CHINd  UTSDER  THE 
CmPRESS  DOliJ/IGER 


J.O.P.BL/IND  & 
E.B/TCKHOU5E 


GIFT  OF 
A.   F,    Morrison 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/chinaunderempresOOblanrich 


CHINA    UNDER    THE 
EMPRESS    DOWAGER 


CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

(SOME  LONDON  PRESS  OPINIONS) 

"  Rarely  is  a  book  written  round  State  papers  which  is  at 
once  so  sound  in  learning,  so  informing,  and  so  fascinating  to 
read  as  this.  It  publishes  for  the  first  time  documents  which, 
but  for  the  diligence  of  the  authors,  would  probably  never  have 
come  under  English  eyes  ;  it  gives  us  an  enthralling  narrative 
of  the  vicissitudes  of  feeling  and  policy  in  the  Forbidden  City 
at  the  time  of  the  Boxer  rising  and  the  attacks  on  the 
Legations  in  Pekin  ;  and  it  comes  as  near  as  any  book  could  to 
explaining  the  enigmatic  character  of  the  Empress  Dowager. 
She  was  the  Queen  Elizabeth  of  the  Chinese  Throne.  No  one 
who  wishes  to  understand  the  China  of  the  last  half-century — 
we  might  say  also  the  China  of  immemorial  ages — should  leave 
this  book  unread." — The  Spectator. 

"  For  the  first  time  this  remarkable  volume  lifts  the  veil  that 
diplomacy  had  allowed  to  fall  over  the  share  of  the  Empress  in 
the  events  of  1900.  It  is  a  document  more  illuminating  than 
perhaps  any  that  has  ever  come  out  of  China.  We  see,  as  in 
a  looking-glass,  the  inner  life  of  the  Palace.  It  presents  for 
the  first  time  a  vivid  and  coherent  pictxure  of  the  whole  career 
and  character  of  the  masterful  woman  who  was  for  half-a- 
century  a  de  facto  ruler  of  the  Chinese  Empire.  Historically 
this  document  is  of  the  highest  importance." — The  Times, 

"Of  the  greatest  possible  interest.  The  diary  affords  a 
panorama  of  Chinese  Court  life  in  its  most  poignant  moments, 
such  as  without  doubt  has  never  before  been  ofiFered  to 
European  judgment.  The  whole  of  the  historical  narrative  is 
carefully  wrought  and  closely  argued  ;  the  authorities  consulted 
are  first-hand  and  valuable ;  and  the  picture  is  always  full  of 
movement  and  colour."— ZA*  Daily  Telegraph. 

"The  authors  have  done  more  than  write  an  admirable 
biography.  They  have  given  a  picture,  authoritative,  in- 
structive, and  absorbingly  interesting,  of  the  tangled  skein  of 
China's  political  vicissitudes  in  the  last  sixtj^  years.  And  it  is 
out  of  the  China  of  yesterday  that  the  China  of  to-morrow 
must  emerge." — The  Daily  News. 

"  We  have  the  Empress  Dowager  to  the  life  ....  a  vital, 
arresting,  commanding  woman,  whose  word  was  law  in  China 
for  half-a-century.  It  is  a  narrative  that  holds  one  with  an 
intense  fascination.  This  sober  record  of  events  surpasses  in 
interest  the  wildest  fancies  of  romantic  writers." 

—The  Daily  Chronicle. 


^Frontispiece 


The  "  Holy  Mother,"  Her  Majesty  Tzu  Hsi. 

{From  a  photograph  taken  in  1903) 


CHINA  UNDER  THE 
EMPRESS    DOWAGER 

BEING  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  LIFE 
AND    TIMES    OF    TZO   HSI 

COMPILED  FROM  STATE  PAPERS 

AND  THE  PRIVATE  DIARY  OF 

THE  COMPTROLLER  OF 

HER  HOUSEHOLD 

BY 

[.  O.  p.  BLAND  AND  E.  BACKHOUSE 

NEW  AND  REVISED   CHEAPER  EDITION 

'  ^  'iLLUsfRATFit) 


BOSTON  AND   NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

1914 


DS7(^3 


Printid  in  England 


GIFT  OP     . 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

H.R.H.   PRINCE   HENRY   OF   PRUSSIA  AT  THE 
COURT  OF  TZO  HSI 

The  Authors  have  been  honoured  by  the  following  com- 
munication from  His  Royal  Highness  Prince  Henry  of 
Prussia  concerning  his  audience  with  the  Empress 
Dowager  on  the  15th  of  May  1898.  The  account  herein 
given  of  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  first  reception 
of  the  ladies  of  the  Diplomatic  Body  at  the  Court  of 
Peking  is  of  permanent  interest,  and  the  Authors  gratefully 
avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  which  presents  itself, 
in  preparing  the  revised  edition  of  this  work,  to  make 
it  public. 


"Whilst  holding  an  appointment  as  Rear-Admiral, 
Second  in  Command  of  the  German  Cruiser  Squadron  in 
China  in  1898,  I  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  Peking  and 
of  being  admitted  to  an  audience  before  the  late  Empress 
Dowager  and  the  late  Emperor. 

"  I  was  given  to  understand  that  an  audience  of  this  kind 
was  quite  out  of  the  common,  and  that  no  European  had, 
in  the  past,  ever  stood  before  a  Chinese  Empress  so  long 
as  Chinese  history  existed,  but  that  it  had  been  Her 
Majesty's  particular  wish  to  receive  me  on  this  occasion, 
probably  much  against  the  wishes  of  her  advisers,  though 
perhaps  her  object  was  to  prove  that  she  was  the  sovereign 
in  power. 

"The  audience  took  place  on  the  15th  of  May  1898,  at  the 
Summer  Palace,  Wan  Shau-Shan,  on  which  occasion  all 


M103380 


vi  PREFATORY   NOTE 

the  pomp  of  a  Chinese  ruler  was  displayed ;  the  audience 
with  the  Emperor  took  place  after  I  had  been  to  see  the 
Empress. 

"The  day  before  my  reception,  I  had  called  on  the 
Foreign  Ministers  in  Peking,  making  the  acquaintance  of 
the  British  Minister,  Sir  Claude  Macdonald  and  of  Lady 
Macdonald.  They  both  showed  a  keen  interest  in  next 
day's  event;  so  much  so  that,  in  the  course  of  conversa- 
tion, Lady  Macdonald  asked  me  if  I  would  mind  conveying 
a  message  to  the  Empress  Dowager  on  behalf  of  the  ladies 
of  the  Foreign  Legations  then  residing  in  Peking.  I  con- 
sented, whereupon  Lady  Macdonald  requested  me  to  ask 
the  Empress  whether  she  would  be  willing  to  receive  the 
ladies  of  the  Foreign  Legations  at  any  time,  or  on  any  day, 
that  would  be  convenient  to  Her  Majesty.  I  promised  I 
would  do  my  best,  should  a  favourable  opportunity  present 
itself,  but  that  I  could  not,  of  course,  guarantee  my  success, 
knowing  nothing  of  the  circumstances  under  which  I  would 
be  received  nor  being  sufficiently  acquainted  with  Chinese 
etiquette. 

"The  occasion  did  present  itself,  however,  during  a  lull 
in  the  conversation,  when  I  shot  my  bolt  and  laid  the 
question  before  Her  Majesty,  who,  after  some  consider- 
able hesitation,  answered  that  she  was  willing  to  receive 
the  ladies  in  about  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks'  time. 

"On  my  return  to  Peking,  this  news  was  received  with 
much  enthusiasm,  and,  as  far  as  I  recollect,  the  ladies  were 
received  some  three  weeks  afterwards.  Should  there  be 
any  doubt  about  my  statements,  I  am  sure  Sir  Claude  as 
well  as  Lady  Macdonald  will  confirm  them. 

"The  reason  why  I  mention  these  facts  is  that,  at  the 
time,  this  interview  created  quite  a  sensation  and  was 
looked  upon  as  a  new  departure  in  Chinese  history,  which, 
to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  it  was.  Furthermore,  I  refer 
to  them  because  there  is  no  mention  of  these  proceedings 
in  the  famous  book  China  Under  the  Empress  Dowager, 
which  otherwise  contains  so  many  interesting  details  of 
the    late    Empress's   life.      Probably    the    Authors   were 


PREFATORY  NOTE  vii 

ignorant  of  the  aforesaid  facts,  which,  I  think,  merit  to 
be  related,  inasmuch  as  they  form  a  missing  link  in  the 
description  of  the  life  of  that  great  and  powerful  ruler, 
for  whom,  since  I  saw  her,  I  always  have  had  the  greatest 
admiration. 


.%^\^o 


"Kiel:  February  1912." 


CONTENTS 
I 


PACK 

THE   PARENTAGE   AND   YOUTH  OF  YEHONALA  ...  I 


II 

THE  FLIGHT  TO  JEHOL 13 

III 

THE   TSAI  Yt)AN   CONSPIRACY        ......         26 

IV 

THE  FIRST  REGENCY 40 

V 
TZO   HSI   AND  THE  EUNUCHS 5 1 

VI 
MAJORITY   AND   DEATH  OF   THE  EMPEROR   t'uNG-CHIH       .  .         74 

VII 

THE   PROTEST  AND   SUICIDE  OF  WU   k'O-TU  ....         88 

VIII 

TzO   HSI   BECOMES   SOLE  REGENT  .....       lOO 

IX 
TzO   HSI   "en  RETRAITE" IO9 

X 

THE  REFORM  MOVEMENT  OF  1 898 II9 

ix 


X  CONTENTS 

XI 

PAGB 

THE   HUNDRED  DAYS    OF   REFORM  .  .  .  .  .       128 

XII 
THE   COUP  D'ETAT  OF    1898  ......       I36 

XIII 

TZtJ   HSI   RESUMES   THE   REGENCY   (1898)         .  .  .  .145 

XIV 
THE  DIARY   OF   HIS  EXCELLENCY   CHING   SHAN  .  .  .       166 

XV 

THE  FLIGHT   FROM   PEKING   AND   THE   COURT  IN   EXILE     .  .'    317 

XVI 
THE  OLD   BUDDHA  PENITENT 235 

XVII 

THE   RETURN   OF   THE   COURT   TO   PEKING        .  .  .  .242 

XVIII 
HER  majesty's  NEW  POLICY 258 

XIX 
HER   majesty's   LAST  DAYS 2)0 

XX 

TZtJ   HSI'S   DEATH   AND   BURIAL 290 

XXI 
CONCLUSION     .  .  .  .     , 297 

INDEX .  .317 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  "holy  mother/*  HER  MAJESTY  TzO  HSI      .  Frontispiece 

MAP  OF  PEKING p.  xiV-XV 

To  face  page 
THE      REGENT      PRINCE     CH'uN,     WITH     HIS     TWO     SONS,     THE 

YOUNG   EMPEROR   (STANDING)   AND    PRINCE   p'u    CHIEH         .  4 

THE   IMPERIAL   DAIS   IN   THE   CHIAO-t'aI   HALL  .  .  .  l6 

HER   MAJESTY   TZtJ   HSI   IN   THE  YEAR    I903  ....         32 

EXTERIOR   OF   THE   CH'IEN   CH'iNG   PALACE     ....         42 

H.M.  TZtJ  HSI,  WITH  THE  CONSORT  (lUNG  yO)  AND  PRINCIPAL 
CONCUBINE  (chin  FEI)  OF  H.M.  KUANG-HSU,  ACCOMPANIED 
BY   COURT  LADIES   AND   EUNUCHS  ....         58 

INTERIOR   OF  THE   I   KUN   KUNG lOO 

CIRCULAR     THRONE     HALL     IN     THE     GROUNDS     OF    THE     LAKE 

PALACE  LOOTED   BY   ALLIED   TROOPS   IN    I900  .  .       142 

PAVILION   ON   LAKE   TO   THE  WEST   OF   FORBIDDEN   CITY  .  .       142 

FACSIMILE  OF  A  FRAGMENT  OF  THE  DIARY  .  .  .  />.  211 

To  face  page 
MARBLE   BRIDGE  IN   THE   GROUNDS   OF   THE   LAKE  PALACE  .       226 

IN  THE  GROUNDS   OF  THE   PALACE  IN   THE  WESTERN   PARK        .       226 


HIS   HIGHNESS   PRINCE  TSAI   HSUN 


242 

xi 


xii  LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

To  J  ace  page 
H.M.  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER  AND  LADIES  OF  HER  COURT  (1903)      256 

VIEW,   FROM   THE    k'UN    MING    LAKE,   OF  THE    SUMMER    PALACE      278 


YING 282 

THE   SON   OF   HEAVEN 286 

PORTRAIT   OF   THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER              ....  302 

THE   IMPERIAL   DAIS   IN   THE   CH'iEN    CH'ING   HALL               .             .  316 


INDEX  TO   NUMBERED   MAP   OF   PEKING 


(i)  Tung  Hua  Men,  the  East  Gate 
Glorious.  This  is  the  usual 
entrance  to  the  Forbidden 
City  for  officials  attending 
audience  when  the  Court  is 
there  resident.  (It  was  here 
that  was  suspended  in  a 
basket  the  head  of  the 
foreigner  captured  by  the 
Boxers  on  20th  June.) 

(2)  Huang  Chi  Tien,   or  Throne 

Hall  of  Imperial  Supremacy. 
In  this  Hall  the  Empress 
Dowager,  after  the  return  of 
the  Court  from  exile,  was 
accustomed  to  receive  her 
officials  in  audience  on  the 
rare  occasions  when  she  lived 
in  the  Forbidden  City.  It 
was  here  that  her  remains  lay 
for  nearly  a  year  awaiting  the 
day  of  burial. 

(3)  Ning  Shou   Kung,  or  Palace 

of  Peaceful  Longevity.  Here 
the  Old  Buddha  resided  during 
the  siege;  here  she  buried 
her  treasure.  She  returned 
hither  after  the  days  of  exile 
and  Uved  in  it  pending  the 
restoration  of  the  Lake  Palace, 
desecrated  by  the  foreign 
occupation. 

(4)  Chien  Ching  Kung,  or  Palace 

of  Heavenly  Purity.  The 
Hall  in  which  China 's  Emperors 
were  accustomed  to  give 
audience  to  the  Grand  Council. 
After  the  Boxer  rising,  in 
accordance  with  the  new 
ceremonial  laid  down  by  the 
Peace  protocol,  the  Diplo- 
matic Body  were  received 
here.  In  this  Hall  the  Em- 
peror Kuang  Hsii  discussed 
and  decided  with  K'ang  Yu- 
wei  the  reform  programme  of 
1898,  and  it  was  here  that 
his  body  lay  awaiting  sepulture 
between  November  1898  and 
February  1909. 

(5)  Shea  Wu  Men,    or    Gate  of 


Divine  MiUtary  Genius. 
Through  this,  the  Northern 
gate  of  the  City,  the  Old 
Buddha  fled  in  the  dawn  of  the 
15th  August  1900. 

(6)  The  Rock  Garden  in  which  Her 

Majesty  used  to  walk  during 
the  days  of  the  siege  of  the 
Legations  and  from  which  she 
witnessed  the  burning  of  the 
Han-lin  Academy. 

(7)  Yang  Hsin  Tien,  or  Throne 
Hall  of  Mental  Growth.  In 
this  Palace  the  Emperor  T'ung- 
Chih  resided  during  the  whole 
of  his  reign. 

(8)  Hsi  Hua  Men,  or  West  Gate 

Glorious.  One  of  the  main 
entrances  to  the  Forbidden 
City. 

(9)  Tai  Ho  Tien,  Throne  Hall  of 

Exalted  Peace.  Used  only 
on  occasions  of  High  cere- 
mony, such  as  the  accession 
of  a  new  Emperor,  an  Im- 
perial birthday  celebration, 
or  the  New  Year  ceremonies. 

(10)  Shou  Huang  Tien,  or  Throne 

Hall  of  Imperial  Longevity. 
In  this  building  the  reigning 
sovereign  unrolls  on  the  day 
of  the  New  Year  the  portraits 
of  deceased  Emperors,  and 
pays  sacrifice  to  them. 

(11)  Hsi  Yiian  Men,  Western  Park 

Gate.  It  is  through  this  that 
the  Grand  Council  and  other 
high  officials  pass  to  audience 
when  the  sovereign  is  in  resi- 
dence at  the  Lake  Palace. 

(12)  At  this  gate  the  Emperor  was 
wont  to  await,  humbly  kneel- 
ing, the  arrival  of  the  Old 
Buddha  on  her  way  to  or 
from  the  Summer  Palace. 

(13)  The   Altar   of   Silkworms,   at 

which  the  Empress  Consort 
must  sacrifice  once  a  year,  and 
where  the  Old  Buddha  sacri- 
ficed on  occasion. 
(14    A  Lama  Temple  where  the 


xui 


r 


xvi      INDEX  TO  NUMBERED  MAP  OF  PEKING 


Old  Buddha  frequently  wor- 
shipped. 

(15)  Ta    Hsi     Tien,     the     Temple 

of  the  Great  Western  Heaven. 
A  famous  Buddhist  shrine 
built  in  the  reign  of  the  Em- 
peror Kang  Hsi. 

(16)  The  Old  CathoUc  Church  built 

within  the  Palace  precincts 
by  permission  of  the  Emperor 
Kang-Hsi.  It  was  converted 
by  the  Empress  Dowager  into 
a  Museum  in  which  was  kept 
the  collection  of  stuffed  birds 
made  by  the  missionary  P^re 
David.  Eye-witnesses  of  the 
siege  of  the  French  Cathedral 
in  1900  have  stated  that  the 
Empress  and  several  of  the 
ladies  of  the  Court  ascended 
to  the  roof  of  this  building 
to  watch  the  attack  on  the 
Christians ;  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  they  exposed  themselves 
for  any  great  length  of  time 
in  what  must  have  been  a 
dangerous  position. 

(17)  Tzu  Kuang  Ko,    Throne  Hall 

of  Purple  Effulgence.  The 
building  in  which  the  Emperor 
is  wont  to  receive,  and  enter- 
tain at  a  banquet,  the  Dalai 
and  Panshen  Lamas  and  cer- 
tain feudatory  chiefs.  Before 
1900  Foreign  Envoys  were  also 
received  here. 

(18)  Ching  Cheng  Tien,  or  Throne 

Hall  of  Diligent  Government. 
Used  for  the  audiences  of 
the  Grand  Council  when  the 
Court  was  in  residence  at  the 
Lake  Palace. 

(19)  Li  Yiian  Tien,  Throne  Hall  of 

Ceremonial  Phoenixes.  Part 
of  the  Empress  Dowager's 
new  Palace,  built  for  her  in 
the  early  years  of  Kuang 
Hsii's  reign.  Here  she  re- 
ceived birthday  congratu- 
lations when  resident  at  the 
Lake  Palace,  and  here  she 
gave  her  valedictory  audience, 
just  before  her  death. 

(20)  Ying  Tai,  or  Ocean  Terrace, 

where  the  Emperor  Kuang 
Hsii  was  kept  under  close 
surveillance  after  the  coup 
d'itat  in  1898,  and  which  he 
never  left  (except  on  one 
occasion  when  he  attempted 


to  escape)  between  September 
1898  and  March  1900.  By 
means  of  a  drawbridge,  this 
Ocean  Terrace  was  made  a 
secure  place  of  confinement. 
After  the  return  of  the  Court 
in  1902,  His  Majesty  lived 
here  again,  but  under  less 
restraint,  and  it  was  here  that 
he  met  his  death. 

(21)  At  this  point  stood  the  high 

mound  which  Her  Majesty 
is  reported  to  have  ascended 
on  the  night  of  13th  June 
1900,  to  watch  the  conflagra- 
tions in  various  parts  of  the 
city. 

(22)  The  White   Pagoda,    built  in 

the  time  of  the  Yiian  dynasty 
{circa  1290  a.d.),  when  the 
artificial  lake  was  also  made. 

(23)  Wan    Shou    ssii,    the   Temple 

of  Imperial  Longevity.  Here 
the  Empress  was  accustomed 
to  sacrifice  on  her  journeys 
to  and  from  the  Summer 
Palace. 

(24)  The  residence  of  Ching  Shan, 

where  the  Diary  was  written. 

(25)  The  residence  of  Wen  Lien, 
Comptroller  of  the  Household 
and  friend  of  Ching  Shan. 

(26)  Residence  of   Jung  Lu. 

(27)  Place  of  the  Princess  Imperial, 

the  daughter  of  Prince  Kung, 
whom  the  Empress  Dowager 
adopted. 

(28)  Birthplace  of  the  present   in- 

fant Emperor,  Hsiian  T'ung, 
son  of  Prince  Ch'un  and  grand- 
son of  Jung  Lu.  In  accord- 
ance with  prescribed  custom, 
it  will  be  converted  into  a 
shrine. 
{29)  Birthplace  of  H.M.  Kuang 
Hsu.  Half  of  this  building 
has  been  converted  into  a 
shrine  in  honour  of  HisMajesty 
and  the  other  half  into  a 
memorial  temple  to  the  first 
Prince  Ch'un,  grandfather  of 
the  present  infant  Emperor. 

(30)  Pewter  Lane,  where  Yehonala 

was  born. 

(31)  Palace  of  Duke  Chao,  younger 

brother  of  Tzu  Hsi. 

(32)  Palace  of  Duke  Kuei  Hsiang, 

elder  brother  of  Tzu  Hsi 
and  father  of  the  present 
Empress  Dowager. 


INDEX  TO  NUMBERED  MAP  OF  PEKING     xvii 


(33)  At  this  point  was  erected  the 

scaffolding  from  which  guns 
were  trained  on  the  Legations. 
The  soldiers  on  duty  here 
were  quartered  in  the  house 
of  Ching  Shan. 

(34)  The  execution  ground  where 

were  put  to  death  the  Re- 
formers of  1898  and  the 
Ministers  who,  in  1900,  pro- 
tested against  the  attack  on 
the  Legations. 

(35)  The    residence,    in     1861,   of 

Tsai  Yiian,  hereditary  Prince 
Yi,  who  was  put  to  death  by 
Tzu  Hsi  for  usurping  the 
Regency. 

(36)  Residence  of  Tuan  Hua,  the 
Co-Regent  with  Tsai  Yiian, 
also  allowed  to  commit  suicide 
in    1861. 

(37)  The  Imperial  Clan  Court,  in 

which  is  the  "  Empty  Cham- 
ber," where  the  usurping 
Princes  met  their  deaths. 

(38)  Residence    of    the    "  Beileh " 

Tsai  Ying,  son  of  Prince  Kung, 
cashiered  for  complicity  in 
the  Boxer  rising. 

(39)  The  site  of  the  Chan-Ta-ssu, 

a  famous  Lama  Temple,  de- 
stroyed by  the  French  in  1900 
for  having  been  a  Boxer 
drilling  ground. 

(40)  Residence  of  the  Chief  Eunuch, 

Li  Lien-ying. 

(41)  Now    the    Belgian    Legation 

premises,  but  formerly  the 
residence  of  the  Boxer  pro- 
tagonist, Hsu  T'ung,  that 
fierce  old  Imperial  Tutor  whose 
ambition  it  was  to  have  his 
cart  covered  with  the  skins 
of  foreign  devils. 

(42)  The  Imperial  Canal,   by  way 

of  which  the  Old  Buddha 
used  to  proceed  in  her  State 
barge  to  the  Summer  Palace. 

(43)  The    graves    of    the    Empress 

Dowager's  parents.  They  are 
adorned  with  two  marble 
pillars,  bearing  laudatory  in- 
scriptions. 

(44)  Here    was    erected    the    tem- 

porary railway  station  at 
which  the  Empress  alighted 
on  her  return  from  exile. 

(45)  In   the  north-west   corner  of 

the  enceinte  of  the  Chien  Men, 
a  shrine  at  which  the  Empress 


Dowager  and  the  Emperor  sac- 
rificed to  the  tutelary  god 
of  the  dynasty  (Kuan  Yii), 
the  patron  saint  of  the 
Boxers. 

(46)  At  this  point  many  Christians 

were  massacred  on  the  night 
of  the  13th  June  1900. 

(47)  Palace  of  Prince  Chuang,  the 

Boxer  leader,  mentioned  by 
Ching  Shan  as  the  place  where 
the  Christians  were  tried. 

(48)  Residence    of    Yuan    Ch'ang, 

where  he  was  arrested  for 
denouncing  the  Boxers. 

(49)  Residence  of  the  Grand  Secre- 

tary, Wang  Wen-shao. 

(50)  Residence   of   Yang    Li-shan, 

the  President  of  the  Board 
of  Revenue,  executed  by 
order  of  Prince  Tuan. 

(51)  Residence  of  Duke  Lan,  the 

Boxer  leader.  At  present 
occupied  by  Prince  Pu  Chiin, 
the  deposed  Heir  to  the 
Throne  and  a  most  notorious 
reprobate. 

(52)  Tzu  Ning  Kung,  or  Palace  of 

Maternal  Tranquillity,  where 
the  Empress  Dowager  Tzu 
An  resided  during  most  of 
the  years  of  the  Co-Regency. 

(53)  Chang  Ch'un  Kung,  or  Palace 

of  Perpetual  Spring,  where 
Tzu  Hsi  resided  during  the 
reign  of  T'ung  Chih. 

(54)  Residence  of  the  actors  engaged 

for  Palace  performances; 

(55)  The  Nei  Wu  Fu.  or  Imperial 

Household  Department 
Offices. 

(56)  The  Taoist  Temple   (Ta   Kao 

Tien),  where  the  Emperor 
prays  for  rain  or  snow. 

(57),  (58)  In  these  two  Palaces 
resided  the  chief  Imperial 
concubines.  After  Tzu  Hsi's 
resumption  of  the  Regency  in 
1898,  Kuang  Hsii  and  his 
consort  occupied  small  apart- 
ments at  the  back  of  her 
Palace,  on  the  brief  visits  of 
the  Court  of  the  Forbidden 
City. 

(59)  Chung  Ho  Tien,  or  Throne 
Hall  of  Permanent  Harmony. 
Here  H.M.  Kuang  Hsii  was 
arrested  in  September  1898 
and  taken  away  to  confine- 
ment in  the  "  Ocean  Terrace." 


DESCRIPTIVE   LIST  OF  HIGH  OFFICIALS 

AND 

OTHER  PERSONAGES  MENTIONED  IN  THIS  BOOK 

(i)  Prince  Tun  {"  generous  ") :  honorific  title  of  Yi  Tsung, 
fifth  son  of  Emperor  Tao  Kuang.  He  was  adopted  to 
be  son  to  his  uncle,  Mien  K'ai,  son  of  Emperor  Chia-ch'ing 
(1796-1820). 

(2)  Prince   Tuan   ("  orthodox ")  :    honorific  title   of  Tsai   Yi, 

second  son  of  Prince  Tun ;  he  was  adopted  to  be  son  of 
I-Yo,  Prince  Jui,  grandson  of  Chia-ch'ing. 

(3)  Duke  Tsai  Lan  :  third  son  of  Prince  Tun,  a  Boxer  leader. 

(4)  Prince  Kung  ("  respectful ") :    honorific  title  of  Yi  Hsin, 

sixth  son  of  Tao  Kuang.  Born  Jan.  11,  1833,  died  May 
29,  1898. 

(5)  Prince  Ch'un  ("  generous  ")  :    seventh  son  of  Tao  Kuang, 

Born  Oct.  16,  1840.     Died  Jan.  i,  1891. 

(6)  Tsai  T'ien  :  the  Emperor  Kuang  Hsii,  second  son  of  Prince 

Ch'un.  Canonized  as  Emperor  *'  Virtuous  and  Illus- 
trious " ;  Married  Yehonala,  daughter  of  Duke  Kuei 
Hsiang,  who  survives  him  and  is  now  the  Empress 
Dowager  Lung  Yii  ("  blessed  and  prosperous  "). 

(7)  Tsai  Feng  :  the  present  Regent.    Third  son  of  Prince  Ch'un 

by  a  concubine.     (His  personal  name  is  taboo.) 

(8)  P'u  Yi :  Emperor  Hsiian-Tung,  son  of  (7). 

(9)  P'u  Lun  :  son  of  Tsai  Chung ;  is  now  president  of  National 

Assembly.  In  the  legitimate  line  of  succession  he  was 
the  rightful  heir  to  the  Throne. 

(10)  Duke  Tsai  Tse  :   grandson  of  Prince  Hui,  the  fifth  son  of 

Emperor  Chia  Ch'ing.  He  married  the  Empress  Lung 
Yii's  sister.  Is  generally  considered  one  of  the  strongest 
Manchus  now  in  office. 

(11)  Beileh  Tsai  Ch'u  :  son  of  Prince  Fu  ("  trustworthy  "),  ninth 

son  of  Emperor  Tao  Kuang.  Cashiered  and  imprisoned 
by  Tzti  Hsi  at  the  time  of  the  coup  d'etat)  restored  to 
office  by  Regent  on  the  same  day  that  Yuan  Shih-k'ai  wa^ 
dismissed.     He  married  Tzii  Hsi's  favourite  niece. 


XX  LIST   OF   HIGH    OFFICIALS 

(12)  Prince  Su  ("  reverential ")  :  descended  from  a  younger  son 
of  Nurhachu.  He  is  one  of  the  eight  "  Iron-capped  " 
Princes,  whose  titles  are  hereditary  for  ever. 

{13)  Prince  Cheng  ("  sedate  ")  :  named  Tuan  Hua,  one  of  the 
usurping  Regents.  An  "  Iron-capped  "  Prince  and  de- 
scendant of  Nurhachu. 

(14)  Prince  Yi  ("  harmonious  ")  Tsai  Yuan  :  one  of  the  usurping 

Regents.     Descended  from  younger  son  of  K'anghsi. 

(15)  Jung  Lu  :  kinsman  and  favourite  official  of  Tzu  Hsi. 

(16)  Huai  Ta  Pu  (son  of  Grand  Secretary  Jui  Lin,  who  com- 

manded the  Manchu  force  at  the  battle  of  Pa-li-chiao 
against  the  British  and  French  forces  in  i860)  :  a  kinsman 
of  Tzu  An.  He  committed  suicide  in  1900,  overcome 
by  his  grief  and  wrath  at  being  forced  by  the  Japanese 
troops  to  work  at  carting  sand  amongst  a  crowd  of 
coolies. 

(17)  Kuei  Hsiang  :  Duke  Kuei,  younger  brother  of  Tzii  Hsi  and 

father  of  Lung  Yii. 

(18)  Duke  Chao  :    younger  brother  of  Tzti  Hsi  and  father  of 

Duke  TL 

(19)  The   Princess   Imperial,   or  Ta   Kung  chu :    daughter  of 

Prince  Kung  (No.  4  above).  Specially  adopted  as 
daughter  by  Tzti  Hsi;  now  a  widow  with  three  sons, 
all  holding  appointments  in  the  army. 

(20)  Lady  Liu  :    wife  (originally  concubine)  of  Jung  Lu.    The 

Empress  Dowager's  closest  friend. 

(21)  Po  Chiin  :    Grand  Secretary.     Decapitated  as  the  result  of 

Su  Shun's  jealousy  in  Hsien  Feng's  reign;  grandfather 
of  Na  T'ung. 

(22)  Na  T'ung  :   Grand  Councillor  and  present  head  of   Foreign 

Office.  Probably  the  most  powerful  of  the  Regent's 
advisers  and  the  head  of  his  party. 

(23)  Ch'i  Ying  :  was  Manchu  viceroy  of  Canton  after  Treaty  of 

Nanking;  was  allowed  to  commit  suicide,  at  Yehonala's 
suggestion,  for  failing  to  procure  withdrawal  of  the 
foreign  warships  from  Tientsin  in  1856.  He  was  con- 
sidered to  have  leanings  to  Christianity,  which  made 
him  the  more  unpopular. 

(24)  Su  Shun :   one  of  the  usurping  Regents  of  the  Tsai  Yuan 

conspiracy. 

(25)  Chon  Tsu-p'ei :  Grand  Secretary  during  ist  regency. 
26)  Kuei  Liang  :  Grand  Secretary  during  ist  regency. 


K 


LIST   OF   HIGH    OFFICIALS  xxi 

(27)  Ho  Shen  :  the  famous  Grand  Secretary  under  the  Emperor 

Ch'ien  Lung,  who  was  allowed  to  commit  suicide  by  Chia 
Ch'ing.  Said  to  have  accumulated  £14,000,000  in 
bullion. 

(28)  Ching  Shan  :  Grand  Councillor  on  T'ung-Chih's  succession. 

(29)  Mu-Yin  :  Grand  Councillor  on  T'ung-Chih's  succession. 

(30)  Muyanga  :  sometime  Taotai  in  Kuangsi ;  father  of  Empress 

Tzii  An,  and  benefactor  of  Tzii  Hsi. 

(31)  Ch'ung  Ch'i :  father  of  A-lu-te  and  tutor  to  Heir  Apparent, 

P'u  Ch'iin.  Was  President  of  Board  of  Revenue;  his 
suicide  was  recorded  by  Jung  Lu. 

(32)  Prince  Chuang,  Tsai  Hsiin  (Chuang,  honorific  title,  meaning 

"  austere  **)  \  a  Boxer  prince  and  descendant  of  younger 
son  of  Nurhachu. 

(33)  Tsai  Kung,  Duke  Kung  :  younger  brother  of  Prince  Chuang, 

and  now  inheritor  of  latter 's  title.  Tzii  Hsi  restored  the 
hereditary  princedom  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  an 
insult  to  Nurhachu's  memory  if  it  were  abolished. 

(34)  Kuei  Pao  :  Minister  of  Household  under  T'ung-Chih. 

(35)  Wen  Hsi :  Minister  of  Household  under  T'ung-Chih. 

(36)  Kuei  Ching  :  uncle  of  Tuan  Fang ;  Minister  of  Household. 

(37)  Tuan  Fang  :  ex- Viceroy ;  cashiered  in  1909.     It  is  recorded 

that  on  one  occasion  the  Empress  Lung  Yii,  observing 
that  he  stared  at  her,  exclaimed  :  "  Had  her  late  Majesty 
been  in  my  place,  where  would  your  head  have  been  !  " 
Tuan  Fang  is  unpopular  with  Manchus  for  his  outspoken- 
ness. At  the  time  of  his  cashiering,  was  impeached  by 
Li  Hung-Chang's  eldest  grandson  and  heir,  Li  Kuo-chieh 
(now  Minister  at  Brussels).  He  lives  in  retirement,  but 
is  said  to  be  intriguing  to  secure  Lung  Yii's  favour 
and  a  post  in  the  new  cabinet. 

(38)  Ch'en  Tu-en  :   one  of  Hsien  Fing's  high  officials ;   removed 

from  office  by  Tzii  Hsi. 

(39)  An  Te-hai :   favourite  eunuch  of  Tzii  Hsi  ;  decapitated  in 

Shantung  by  orders  of  her  Co-Regent,  the  Empress 
Tzii  An. 

(40)  An  Wei-chun :    Censor,  removed  from  office  and  banished 

at  Tzii  Hsi's  instigation,  in  1895,  for  criticising  her  private 
life.  Restored  to  office  in  October  1910  by  the  Regent, 
and  given  a  high  place  at  Court. 

(41)  Chang  Chih-tung  :   Grand  Councillor  and  Grand  Secretary. 

Died  Oct.  1909. 


xxii  LIST   OF   HIGH    OFFICIALS 

(42)  Chang  Yin-huan  :    native  of  Canton ;    an  adherent  of  the 

Emperor  Kuanghsii;  he  was  banished  by  Tzii  Hsi,  and 
decapitated  by  Prince  Tuan's  orders.  Posthumous 
honours  have  been  conferred  on  him  by  the  Regent. 

(43)  Chao  Shu-ch'iao  :    native  of  Shensi ;    allowed  to  commit 

suicide  (on  account  of  his  Boxer  proclivities)  at  Hsi-an 
Fu  in  1901. 

(44)  Ch'en  Pao-chen  :    governor  of  Hupei ;    Kuang  Hsii's  ad- 

herent ;  cashiered  by  Tzti  Hsi. 

(45)  Empress  Chia  Shun  (**  admirable  and  obedient ")  :   honorific 

title  conferred  on  A-lu-te  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih. 

(46)  Ch'i  Hsiu  :    Manchu  Grand  Councillor,  and  Boxer  leader ; 

decapitated  at  Peking  by  order  of  the  Empress  Dowager 
on  the  demand  of  the  Allies  in  1901. 

(47)  Ching    Hsin :     Manchu    Grand    Secretary    and    Imperial 

Clansman. 

(48)  Ching   Shan :     Manchu   Vice-President   of   a   Board    {vide 

biographical  note  at  page  166). 

(49)  Ching  Yiian-shan  :   Prefect  of  Shanghai ;  cashiered  in  1900 

for  requesting  Tzii  Hsi  to  restore  the  government  to 
Kuang  Hsii. 

(50)  En  Ch'u  :  eldest  son  of  Ching  Shan. 

(51)  En  Hai :  murderer  of  German  Minister  in  June,  1900. 

(52)  En  Lin  :  son  of  Ching  Shan. 

(53)  Hsii  Ching-ch'eng  :  sometime  Minister  to  Berlin  and  St. 

Petersburg;  put  to  death  by  Tzii  Hsi  for  his  pro-foreign 
proclivities ;  posthumous  honours  have  been  conferred  on 
him  by  the  Regent. 

(54)  Hsii  Shih-ch'ang  :   native  of  Chihli ;   formerly  one  of  Yuan 

Shih-k'ai's  secretaries ;  now  a  Grand  Councillor. 

(55)  Hsii  Chih-ching  :    a  reformer  condemned  to  perpetual  im- 

prisonment after  the  coup  d'etat,  and  released  after  the 
fall  of  Peking  in  1900. 

(56)  Hsii  T'ung  :    Grand  Secretary  and  Boxer  leader ;    com- 

mitted suicide  in  1900  on  fall  of  Peking. 

(57)  Hsii  Ying-ku'ei :    native  of  Canton ;    dismissed  as  a  re- 

actionary by  H.M.  Kuang  Hsii;  reappointed  to  office 
by  Tzii  Hsi  and  appointed  Viceroy  of  Fuhkien  and 
Chekiang. 

(58)  Hsii  Yung-yi :  a  native  of  Chekiang ;  President  of  the  Board 

of  War ;  put  to  death  by  Prince  Tuan  in  Aug.  1900  for 
S5niipathising  with  foreigners. 


LIST   OF   HIGH   OFFICIALS  xxiii 

(59)  Hui  Chang  :  Manchu  Censor  and  Imperial  Clansman ;  one 

of  the  moderates  in  1900. 

(60)  Hui  Cheng  :  Taotai  of  Anhui ;  father  of  Tzii  Hsi ;  post- 

humously raised  to  a  dukedom. 

(61)  Kang    Yi :    leading    Boxer  and  prominent    Manchu    re- 

actionary ;  died  during  Court's  journey  in  1900. 

(62)  K'ang  Yu-wei :  leader  of  the  reformers  of  1898 ;  sentenced 

to  death  and  price  put  upon  his  head  after  his  escape. 
Will  probably  be  pardoned  by  the  present  Regent  and 
permitted  to  return  to  China. 

(63)  Liang  Ch'i-ch'ao  :    K'ang  Yu-wei's  colleague,  lieutenant, 

and  fellow  exile.  Will  also  probably  be  pardoned  by 
the  present  Regent  and  given  office. 

(64)  Liao  Shou-heng  :    native  of  Kiangsu ;    Grand  Councillor 

from  March  1898  to  Dec.  1899. 

(65)  Lien   Yiian  :    Manchu  executed  by  Prince  Tuan  in  Aug. 

1900  for  pro-foreign  proclivities.  Has  since  received 
honour  of  canonisation  by  Decree  of  the  Regent;  he 
and  Li  Shan  (vide  below)  have  had  shrines  erected  to 
their  memory  in  Peking. 

(66)  Li  Lien-ying  :   successor  of  An  Te-hai  as  chief  eunuch  of 

Tzii  Hsi's  Household. 

(67)  Li  Hung-chang :    native  of  Anhui ;    Viceroy  of  Canton, 

Tientsin,  etc.,  and  Peace  negotiator  in  1900. 

(68)  Li  Hung-tsao  :   native  of  Chihli,  for  many  years  a  Grand 

Secretary  and  Grand  Councillor. 

(69)  Lin  Hsii :   one  of  the  reformers  put  to  death  at  the  coup 

d'etat]  posthumous  honours  will  be  given  to  him  by 
the  Regent. 

(70)  Li  Ping-heng :    native  of  Manchuria ;    assistant  general- 

issimo in  July  1900;  committed  suicide. 

(71)  Prince  Li :   (honorific  title  means  "  ceremony  ").     Personal 

name  Shih  To ;  senior  of  the  eight  "  Iron-capped  "  Princes, 
being  a  descendant  of  Tai  shan,  the  second  son  of 
Nurhachu;  was  on  the  Grand  Council  for  some  years; 
still  living  (1911),  and  is  head  of  Imperial  Clan  Court; 
lost  most  of  his  fortune  in  1900. 

(72)  Li  Shan  :   Manchu  President  of  a  Board  and  Comptroller 

of  the  Household;  friend  of  Jung  Lu;  noted  for  his 
collection  of  art  treasures;  put  to  death  by  Prince 
Tuan  in  Aug.  1900;  Canonisation  since  conferred  on 
him  by  Regent,     (vide  65  :  Lien,  Yiian). 


xxiv  LIST   OF   HIGH   OFFICIALS 

(73)  Li  Tuan-fen  :  a  native  of  Kueichou  and  partisan  of  Kuang 

Hsii ;  banished  to  the  new  Dominion  by  Tzii  Hsi.  Died 
in  1904.  Has  since  received  posthumous  honours  by 
order  of  the  Regent. 

(74)  Liu  Kuang-ti :   one  of  Reformers  executed  in  September 

1898. 

(75)  Liu  K'un-yi :    native  of  Hunan ;    Viceroy  of  Nanking  in 

1900.  Chiefly  instrumental  in  preserving  order  in  the 
Yangtse  valley.  Died  in  1902,  and  canonised  as  "  Loyal 
and  Sincere." 

(76)  Lii  Hai-huan  :    native  of  Chihli ;    sometime  Minister  to 

Germany;  subsequently  Director  General  of  Tientsin- 
Pukou  Railway;  a  protege  of  Tzii  Hsi  ;  now  out  of 
office. 

(77)  Ma  Yii-k'un  :  native  of  Anhui.     A  rough,  illiterate  soldier, 

highly  esteemed  by  Tzii  Hsi,  who  issued  a  decree  bidding 
her  Manchu  kinsmen  imitate  his  loyal  devotion.  He 
accompanied  the  flight  of  the  Court  in  1900.  Died 
September  1908. 

{yS)  Lady  Niuhulu  :  clan  name  of  Tzii  Hsi's  mother. 

(79)  Prince  Seng-ko-lin-chin  :   a  Mongol  prince  and  descendant 

of  Ginghis  Khan.  Killed  by  the  rebel  leader  Chang 
Tsung-yii  in  Shantung  in  1864.  Tzii  Hsi  held  him  in 
high  honour. 

(80)  Shen  Chin,  the  reformer  who  was  flogged  to  death  at  the 

Board  of  Punishments  by  Tzii  Hsi's  command  (1898). 

(81)  Sheng  Pao  :    Manchu  General ;    allowed  by  Tzii  Hsi  to 

commit  suicide  for  having  disobeyed  her  orders. 

(82)  Sun   Chia-nai :     native   of   Anhui.     Imperial  tutor    {vide 

biographical  notes).     Died  1909. 

(83)  Sung  Po-lu  :  a  Censor  cashiered  by  Tzii  Hsi  in  1898.     His 

honours  have  been  restored  to  him  by  the  Regent. 

(84)  Sun  Yu-wen  :   native  of  Chihli,  and  for  some  years  Grand 

Councillor.     A  favourite  of  Tzii  Hsi. 

(85)  T'an  Chung-hn  :    native  of  Hunan ;    Viceroy  of  Canton. 

Died  at  Peking  in  1900. 

(86)  T'ang   Shao-yi :    a   Lieutenant   of   Yiian    Shih-k'ai,   and 

Governor  of  Moukden;  now  out  of  office  owing  to 
hostility  of  Lung  Yii's  party. 

(87)  T'an  Ssii-t'ung  :    one  of  the  reformers  executed  in  1898 ; 

son  of  a  former  governor  of  Hupii. 

(88)  T'ao  Mo  :  native  of  Chekiang ;  Viceroy  of  Canton,  where  he 

died. 


LIST   OF   HIGH    OFFICIALS  xxv 

(89)  Ting  Ju-(?h'ang :    native  of  Anhui ;    Admiral  in  Chinese 

Navy;  committed  suicide  at  Weihaiwei  in  1895.  (Hsi 
reputation  not  so  high  among  Chinese  as  among 
foreigners.) 

(90)  Ting    Pao-chen :     Governor   of    Shantung   in    1869.     He 

carried  out  the  execution  of  An  Te-hai. 

(91)  Ts'en  Chun-hsiian  :    native  of  Kuangsi,  and  son  of  the 

Viceroy,  Ts'en  Yii-ying;  Governor-Elect  of  Shensi  in 
1900;  a  favourite  of  Tzii  Hsi,  who  made  him  Viceroy 
of  Ssuch'uan,  and  subsequently  at  Canton,  whence  he 
suppressed  the  Kuangsi  rebellion;  was  summoned  to 
Pelang  and  made  President  of  Yu  Ch'uan  pu  in  1907, 
but  Prince  Ching  and  his  corrupt  followers  dreaded  his 
fearless  honesty  and  induced  Tzti  Hsi  to  remove  him. 

(92)  Tseng  Kuo-fan  :  native  of  Hunan ;  suppressed  the  Taiping 

rebellion. 

(93)  Tso  Tsung-t'ang :    native  of  Hunan  and  a  distinguished 

general.  Rose  to  be  Grand  Secretary  and  Councillor. 
Died  in  1885. 

(94)  T'ung-Chih,  Emperor  :  son  of  Tzii  Hsi. 

(95)  Tung  Fu-hsiang;    originally  a  Mahomedan  bandit;    be- 

came imperialist  General  and  greatly  distinguished 
himself  during  the  siege  of  Legations  in  1900. 

(96)  Tzii  An  :   Empress  Dowager  of  the  East,  and  daughter  of 

Mu-yang-a. 

(97)  Tzii  Hsi :  the  "  holy  mother  " ;   Empress  Dowager. 

(98)  Wang  Wen-shao  :   native  of  Chekiang ;  sometime  Viceroy 

of  Chihli ;  Grand  Councillor  andj^Grand  Secretary ;  died 
in  1909. 

(99)  Weng  T'ung-ho  :    native  of  Kiangsu ;    Grand  Secretary 

and  Councillor ;  Imperial  Tutor.  Disliked  by  Tzii  Hsi, 
who  degraded  him  in  1898.  Died  1904.  All  his  honours 
posthumously  restored  by  Regent. 

(100)  Wen  T'i :  Censor,  dismissed  in  1898  by  Kuang  Hsii ; 
subsequently  promoted  by  Tzii  Hsi;  was  Prefect  of 
K'ai-Feng  fu  when  the  Court  stayed  there  in  November 
1901. 

(loi)  Wu  K'o-tu  :  native  of  Kansu.  The  Censor  who  protested, 
by  committing  suicide,  against  Kuang  Hsii's  accession. 

(102)  Yang  Jui :  one  of  the  executed  Reformers  of  1898. 

(103)  Yang  Shen-hsiu  :  a  Censor ;  one  of  Kuang  Hsii's  party. 


xxvi  LIST   OF   HIGH    OFFICIALS 

{104)  Yeh  Ming-shen  :  Viceroy  of  Canton  in  1857 ;  captured  by 
the  British  and  taken  to  India,  where  he  died.  A  great 
scholar. 

(105)  Yiian  Ch'ang  :    native  of  Chekiang ;    decapitated  by  Tzft 

Hsi  in  July  1900  for  being  pro-foreign.  Has  been 
canonised  by  present  Regent. 

(106)  Yiian  Shih-k'ai :   native  of  Hunan ;   Ex- Viceroy  of  Chihli 

and  Grand  Councillor;  a  great  favourite  of  Tzii  Hsi. 
Present  Empress  Dowager,  for  reasons  not  clear,  opposes 
his  return  to  public  life. 

(107)  Yii  Hsien  :  Manchu ;  massacred  the  missionaries  in  Shansi, 

when  Governor  in  1900,  and  lost  his  head  in  consequence. 

(108)  Yii  Lu  :  Viceroy  of  Chihli  in  1900 ;  committed  suicide  after 

fall  of  Tientsin. 


»    t  t  *    >    • 


J,      o      °   .c« 


THE  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH   OF   YEHONALA 

The  family  of  Yehonala,  one  of  the  oldest  of  the 
Manchu  clans,  traces  its  descent  in  direct  line  to  Prince 
Yangkunu,  whose  daughter  married  (in  1588)  Nurhachi, 
the  real  founder  of  Manchu  rule  in  China  and  the  first 
direct  ancestor  of  the  Ta  Ching  Emperors.  Yangkunu 
was  killed  at  Mukden  in  1583,  in  one  of  his  raids  upon  the 
territories  which  still  owed  allegiance  to  the  degenerate 
Chinese  sovereign  Wan  Li.  His  clan  lived  and  flourished 
in  that  region,  near  the  Corean  border,  which  is  dominated 
by  the  Long  White  Mountain,  the  true  cradle  of  the 
Manchu  stock.  He  and  his  people  seem  to  have  acquired 
the  arts  of  war,  and  much  lust  of  conquest,  by  constantly 
harassing  the  rich  lands  on  their  ever-shifting  borders, 
those  rich  lands  which  to-day  seem  to  be  about  to  pass 
under  the  yoke  of  new  invaders.  Yangkunu 's  daughter 
assumed  the  title  of  Empress  by  right  of  her  husband's 
conquests,  and  her  son  it  was  who  eventually  wrested  the 
whole  of  Manchuria  from  the  Ming  Dynasty  and  reigned 
under  the  name  of  Tien-Ts'ung. 

Into  this  clan,  in  November  1835,  was  born  Yehonala, 
whose  life  was  destined  to  influence  countless  millions  of 
human  beings,  Yehonala,  who  was  to  be  thrice  Regent  of 
China  and  its  autocratic  ruler  for  over  half  a  century.  Her 
father,  whose  name  was  Hui  Cheng,  held  hereditary  rank 
as  Captain  in  one  of  the  Eight  Banner  Corps.  Consider- 
ing the  advantages  of  his  birth,  he  was  generally  accounted 
unsuccessful  by  his  contemporaries;  at  the  time  of  his 
death  he  had  held  no  higher  post  than  that  of  an  Intendant 
of  Circuit,  or  Taotai.  Holding  this  rank  in  the  province 
of  Anhui,  he  died  when  his  daughter  was  but  three  years 

B  I 


2       CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

of  age.  His  widow  and  family  were  well  cared  for  by  a 
kinsman  named  Muyanga,  father  of  her  who  subsequently 
became  Empress  Consort  of  Hsien-Feng  and  Co-Regent 
with  Yehonala.  From  him  the  children  received  every 
advar.tag;e  c^f  education. 

Many  "ufifoUnded  and  ridiculous  stories  have  been 
drcujat^d  'in  rbcent '  ^years  attributing  to  the  Empress 
Dowaget  humble,' 'arid  sometimes  disgraceful,  antecedents. 
Many  of  these  are  nothing  more  than  the  fruit  of  Yellow 
Journalism,  seeking  sensational  material  of  the  kind  which 
appeals  to  the  iconoclastic  instincts  of  its  readers.  Others, 
however,  undoubtedly  owe  their  origin  to  the  envy,  hatred 
and  malice  of  Palace  intrigues,  to  the  initiative  of  the  Iron- 
capped  Princes  and  other  high  officials  of  the  elder  branch 
of  the  Imperial  family,  many  of  whom  were  addicted  to 
besmirching  the  family  and  character  of  Tzu  Hsi  in  order 
to  inflict  "loss  of  face  '*  on  the  Yehonala  clan.  In  this  way, 
and  because  mud  thrown  from  above  usually  sticks,  their 
malicious  stories  were  freely  circulated,  and  often  believed, 
in  Peking  and  in  the  South  :  witness  the  writings  of  K'ang 
Yu-wei  and  his  contemporaries.^ 

To  cite  an  instance.  One  of  these  mythical  stories  used 
to  be  told,  with  every  appearance  of  good  faith,  by  Prince 
Tun,  the  fifth  son  of  the  Emperor  Tao-Kuang.  This 
Prince  cherished  a  grudge  against  Tzu  Hsi  because  of  his 
disappointed  ambitions  :  himself  adopted  out  of  the  direct 
line  of  succession,  he  had  nevertheless  hoped,  in  1875,  that 
his  son  would  have  been  chosen  Emperor.  The  story,  as 
he  used  to  tell  it,  was  that  when  the  Empress's  mother  had 
been  left  a  widow  with  a  large  family  (including  the  future 
ruler  of  China)  they  lived  in  the  most  abject  poverty  at  the 
prefectural  city  of  Ningkuo,  where  her  husband  had  held 
office  and  died.  Having  no  funds  to  pay  for  her  return  to 
Peking,  she  would  have  been  reduced  to  beggary  had  it  not 
been  that,  by  a  lucky  accident,  a  sum  of  money  intended 
for  another  traveller  was  delivered  on  board  of  her  boat  at 

*  As  an  example  of  unbalanced  vituperation,  uttered  in  good  faith  and 
with  the  best  intentions,  vide  The  Chinese  Crisis  frotn  Within  by  "  Wen 
Ching,"  republished  from  the  Singapore  Free  Press  in  1901  (Grant 
Richards). 


PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH  OF  YEHONALA       3 

a  city  on  the  way,  and  that  the  traveller,  on  learning  of  the 
mistake  and  being  moved  to  pity  at  the  sight  of  the  family's 
destitution,  insisted  on  her  keeping  the  money.  Twenty- 
five  years  later,  when  Tzu  Hsi  had  become  the  all-powerful 
Regent,  this  official  appeared  for  audience  at  Peking, 
when,  remembering  the  benefits  received  at  his  hands,  the 
Empress  raised  him  from  his  knees  and  expressed  her 
gratitude  for  his  kindness.  The  story  is  prettier  than  many 
which  emanate  from  the  same  source,  and  original,  too,  in 
the  idea  of  a  Manchu  official  dying  at  his  provincial  post 
in  abject  poverty,  but  unfortunately  for  the  truth  of  the 
narrative,  it  has  been  established  beyond  shadow  of  doubt 
that  neither  the  wife  nor  the  family  of  Tzu  Hsi's  father  were 
with  him  at  the  time  of  his  death.  They  had  gone  on  ahead 
to  Peking,  in  anticipation  of  his  early  return  thither  to  take 
up  a  new  appointment  in  the  White  Banner  Corps. 

Before  proceeding  further,  it  may  be  well  to  refer  briefly 
to  the  Yehonala  clan  and  its  position  in  relation  to  the  elder 
branch  of  the  Imperial  family,  a  question  of  no  small  im- 
portance, past  and  future,  in  its  effect  on  the  history  of 
modern  China.  Jealousy  and  friction  there  had  always 
been  between  the  Imperial  house  and  this  powerful  patrician 
clan,  since  the  first  Yehonala  became  de  facto  ruler  of  the 
Empire  after  the  collapse  of  the  Tsai  YUan  conspiracy,  but 
their  relations  became  more  markedly  strained  after  the 
coup  d'etat  in  1898,  and  although  the  wholesome  fear  of  the 
Empress  Dowager's  "divine  wrath  "  prevented  any  definite 
cleavage,  the  possibilities  of  trouble  were  ever  latent  in  the 
Forbidden  City.  Subsequent  events  at  Peking,  and  espe- 
cially the  dismissal  of  the  Chihli  Viceroy,  Tuan  Fang,  for 
alleged  irreverence  at  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  the  Empress 
Dowager,  emphasised  the  divisions  in  the  Manchu  camp 
and  the  dangers  that  beset  its  Government,  once  it  was 
bereft  of  the  strong  hand  of  Tzu  Hsi.  It  is  difficult  for 
foreigners  to  form  any  clear  idea  of  the  actual  conditions 
of  life  and  of  party  divisions  in  the  Palace,  confused  as  they 
are  by  intricate  questions  of  genealogy,  of  inter-marriage 
and  adoptions  by  relatives,  of  ancient  clan  feuds.  It  should, 
however,  be  explained  that  the  Imperial  Clansmen  (known 


4      CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

in  their  own  tongue  as  Aisin  Gioros)  divided  into  the 
Yellow  and  Red  Girdles,  are  the  descendants  respectively 
of  Nurhachi  himself  and  of  that  ruler's  ancestors,  by  virtue 
of  which  ancestry  they  consider  themselves  (and  the 
Chinese  would  recognise  the  claim)  to  be  the  sang  pur  and 
highest  nobility  of  the  Manchu  Dynasty.  The  Yehonala 
clan,  although  in  no  sense  of  Royal  blood  (as  marriages 
between  the  sovereign  and  female  members  of  a  family  do 
not  entitle  that  family  to  claim  more  than  noble  rank)  owed 
its  great  power  not  only  to  its  numbers,  but  to  the  fact 
that  it  has  given  three  Empresses  Dowager  to  the  Empire  ; 
but,  above  all,  to  the  great  prestige  and  personal  popularity 
of  Tzu  Hsi.  If  the  events  between  1908  and  191 1  are  to  be 
interpreted  in  the  light  of  history  and  of  her  significant 
death-bed  mandate,  the  leaders  of  the  Yehonala  clan  were 
determined  that  the  widow  of  Kuang-HsU  should  follow 
in  the  footsteps  of  her  august  aunt,  and  control  the  business 
of  the  State,  at  least  during  the  Regency.  And,  thanks 
to  Tzu  Hsi's  far-seeing  statecraft,  the  young  Emperor, 
a  grandson  of  Jung  Lu,  was  trained  from  the  first  to 
reverence  the  policy  handed  down  by  the  Old  Buddha. 

One  long-standing  cause  of  suspicion  and  dissension 
between  the  parties  in  the  Palace  arose  from  the  fear  of  the 
elder  descendants  of  Tao-Kuang  (of  whom  Prince  P'u  Lun 
and  Prince  Kung  are  the  chief  representatives)  that  the 
boy-Emperor,  or  his  father  the  Regent,  would  elevate  the 
founder  of  his  branch  (the  first  Prince  Ch'un)  to  the  post- 
humous rank  of  Emperor.  This  kind  of  canonisation 
might  seem  to  Europeans  unimportant,  but  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Chinese  it  would  have  constituted  a  sort  of  post- 
humous usurpation  on  the  part  of  the  junior  branch  of 
the  Imperial  clan,  since  the  first  Prince  Ch'un  would  thus 
be  placed  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  Nurhachi,  the 
founder  of  the  Dynasty,  and  would  practically  become  the 
founder  of  a  new  line.  The  first  Prince  Ch'un  had  him- 
self foreseen  the  possibility  of  such  an  occurrence,  and 
had  realised  that  it  could  not  fail  to  lead  to  serious  trouble, 
for  which  reason,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  he  had  taken 
precautions  to  prevent  it.     It  has  not  escaped  the  attention 


The  Regent,  Prince  Ch'un,  with  his  two  Sons,  the  Young 
Emperor  (standing)  and  Prince  P'u  Chieh. 


PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH  OF  YEHONALA      5 

of  those  whose  business  it  is  to  watch  the  straws  that  float 
down  the  stream  of  high  Chinese  policy  that,  after  the 
accession  of  the  child-Emperor  Hsiian  T'ung  to  the 
Throne,  the  ancestral  sacrifices  made  at  the  mausoleum  of 
the  first  Prince  Ch'un  became  greatly  elaborated  in  pomp 
and  circumstance,  while  in  official  documents  his  name 
was  given  "double  elevation,"  that  is  to  say,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  literati  he  was  made  to  rank  on  the  same  level  as  a 
reigning  Emperor.  It  was  commonly  believed  by  Chinese 
in  a  position  to  speak  with  authority  on  the  subject,  that 
when  the  Emperor  attained  his  majority,  he  would  be  led 
to  confer  further  posthumous  honours  upon  his  grand- 
father, including  that  of  **  triple  elevation,"  which  would 
place  him  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  a  deceased  Emperor, 
and  entitle  him  to  worship  at  a  special  shrine  in  the  Temple 
of  the  Ancestors  of  the  Dynasty.  From  a  Chinese  con- 
stitutional point  of  view,  the  consequences  of  such  a  step 
would  have  been  extremely  serious  and  difficult  of  adjust- 
ment. 

The  Old  Buddha  was  a  strong  partisan,  and  during  her 
lifetime  her  immediate  kinsmen  were  practically  above  the 
law,  basking  in  the  sunshine  of  her  protection  or  making 
hay  thereby,  so  that  there  was  always  a  strong  undercurrent 
of  friction  between  them  and  the  Yellow  and  Red  Girdles, 
friction  of  which  echoes  frequently  reached  the  tea-houses 
and  market  places  of  the  capital.  Tzu  Hsi  delighted  to 
snub  the  Aisin  Gioros ;  in  one  Decree  she  forbade  them  to 
reside  in  the  business  quarter  of  the  city,  on  the  ground 
that  she  had  heard  it  said  that  some  of  them  were  making 
money  by  disreputable  trades.  She  was  by  no  means  beloved 
of  the  Iron-capped  princes  and  other  noble  descendants  of 
Nurhachi,  who,  while  they  feared  her,  never  ceased  to 
complain  that  she  curtailed  their  time-honoured  privileges. 

An  interesting  example  of  her  masterful  methods  of 
dealing  with  these  hereditary  aristocrats  occurred  when  one 
of  the  Imperial  Dukes  ventured  to  build  himself  a  preten- 
tious house  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Imperial  City, 
and  overlooking  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Palace 
enclosure.    No  sooner  was  the  building  completed  than  the 


6      CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Old  Buddha  confiscated  it,  reprimanding  the  owner  for  his 
lack  of  decorum  in  daring  to  overlook  the  Palace  grounds, 
and  forthwith  she  bestowed  it  upon  her  younger  brother, 
the  Duke  Chao. 

Another  example  of  her  clannishness,  and  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  it  created  for  the  local  authorities,  occurred 
upon  the  establishment  of  the  new  Police  Board  at  Peking, 
three  years  after  the  return  of  the  Court  from  exile  in  1902. 
The  Grand  Councillor,  Hsii  Shih-ch'ang,  a  Chinese  by 
birth,  and  a  favourite  of  Her  Majesty,  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  this  new  Board,  but  he  soon  realised  that  the  lot 
of  his  policemen,  when  dealing  with  the  members  of  the 
ruling  clan,  was  by  no  means  a  happy  one.  Her  Majesty's 
third  brother,  the  Duke  Kuei  Hsiang,  was  a  particularly 
hardened  offender,  absolutely  declining  to  recognise  police 
regulations  of  any  kind,  and  inciting  his  retainers  to  "gain 
face  "  by  driving  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  road  and  by 
committing  other  breaches  of  the  regulations.  On  one 
occasion  a  zealous  policeman  went  so  far  as  to  arrest  one 
of  the  Duke's  servants.  Hsii  Shih-ch'ang,  hearing  of  the 
occurrence,  promptly  ordered  the  man's  release,  but  the 
Duke,  grievously  insulted,  insisted  upon  an  abject  apology 
from  the  head  of  the  Board  in  person.  Thrice  did  the  unfor- 
tunate Hsii  call  at  the  Duke's  palace  without  gaining 
admission  and  it  was  only  after  he  had  performed  a  "ko- 
tow "  before  the  Duke  in  the  open  courtyard  outside  the 
palace  that  his  apology  was  accepted.  An  idea  of  the 
importance  of  this  incident  in  the  eyes  of  the  Pekinese, 
and  of  the  power  of  the  clansmen,  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  Hsii  subsequently  became  Viceroy  of  the  Man- 
churian  provinces,  later  President  of  the  Ministry  of  Posts 
and  Communications,  and  in  August,  1910,  was  elevated 
to  the  Grand  Council.  On  this  occasion,  however,  the 
Old  Buddha,  learning  of  the  incident,  "excused"  Hsu 
from  further  attendance  at  the  Grand  Council,  and  shortly 
afterwards  he  was  transferred  to  Mukden. 

Yehonala's  mother,  the  lady  Niuhulu,  survived  her  hus- 
band for  many  years,  residing  in  his  house  in  "Pewter 
Lane "    (Hsi-la-hu-t'ung),    quite    close    to    the    Legation 


PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH  OF  YEHONALA    7 

quarter.  When  her  daughter  became  Empress  Mother, 
she  received  the  rank  of  Imperial  DiKhess.  She  appears 
to  have  been  a  lady  of  great  ability  and  good  sense,  dis- 
tinguished even  amongst  the  members  of  a  clan  always 
noted  for  the  intelligence  of  its  women  kind.  After  living 
to  a  ripe  old  age,  she  was  buried  beside  her  husband  in 
the  family  graveyard  which  lies  without  the  city  to  the 
west,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Europeans'  race-course,  where 
her  daughter's  filial  piety  was  displayed  by  the  erection  of 
an  honorific  arch  and  the  customary  marble  tablets. 
When,  in  January  1902,  the  Empress  Dowager  returned 
from  exile  by  railway  from  Cheng-ting  fu,  she  gained 
great  kudos  from  the  orthodox  by  declining  to  enter  the 
capital  by  the  Hankow  railway  line,  because  that  line  ran 
close  to  her  parents'  graves,  and  it  would  have  been  a 
serious  breach  of  respect  to  their  memory  to  pass  the  spot 
without  reverently  alighting  to  make  obeisance.  She  there- 
fore changed  her  route,  entering  Peking  from  the  south, 
to  the  great  admiration  of  all  her  people. 

Of  Yehonala's  childhood  there  is  little  to  record  except 
that  among  her  youthful  playmates  was  a  kinsman,  Jung 
Lu,  who  in  after  years  was  to  play  so  prominent  a  part  in 
many  a  crisis  of  her  career.  By  common  report  she  had 
been  betrothed  to  him  from  birth.  This  report  is  not 
verifiable,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  great  influence 
which  Jung  Lu  exercised  over  her,  far  greater  than  that 
of  any  of  her  family  or  highest  oflicials,  was  founded  in 
their  early  youth.  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  other  Chinese 
officials  opposed  to  the  Manchu  rule  have  not  hesitated  to 
assert  that  he  was  on  terms  of  improper  intimacy  with  her 
for  years,  dating  from  the  flight  to  Jehol,  and  before  the 
decease  of  her  husband  the  Emperor. 

Yehonala's  education  followed  the  usual  classical  course, 
but  the  exceptional  alertness  and  activity  of  her  mind, 
combined  with  her  inordinate  ambition  and  love  of  power, 
enabled  her  to  rise  superior  to  its  usually  petrifying  in- 
fluences and  to  turn  her  studies  to  practical  account  in  the 
world  of  living  men.  She  learned  to  paint  sTcilfully  and  to 
take  real  pleasure  in  the  art;  she  was  an  adept  at  the 


8      CHINA   UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

composition  of  verses,  as  classically  wooden  in  form  as 
anything  produced  by  the  most  distinguished  of  English 
public  schools.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  she  had  mastered  the 
Five  Classics  in  Chinese  and  Manchu,  and  had  studied  to 
good  purpose  the  historical  records  of  the  twenty-four 
Dynasties.  She  had  beyond  doubt  that  love  of  knowledge 
which  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  and  the  secret  of  power, 
and  she  had,  moreover,  the  chroniclers  aver,  a  definite 
presentiment  of  the  greatness  of  her  destiny. 

Upon  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Tao-Kuang  in  1850,  his 
eldest  surviving  son,  aged  nineteen,  ascended  the  Throne 
under  the  reign-title  of  Hsien-Feng.  After  the  expiry  of 
the  period  of  mourning  (twenty-seven  months)  during 
which  the  new  Emperor  may  not  marry,  a  Decree  was 
issued  commanding  that  all  beautiful  Manchu  maidens  of 
eligible  age  should  present  themselves  at  the  Imperial 
Household  Office  which  would  make  from  them  a  selection 
for  the  Emperor's  harem.  Prior  to  his  accession,  Hsien- 
Feng  had  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  Muyanga,  but 
she  had  died  before  his  coming  to  the  Throne.  Among 
the  maidens  who  obeyed  the  nuptial  Edict  were  Muyanga's 
second  daughter,  Sakota,  and  the  young  Yehonala.  On 
the  14th  of  June,  1852,  about  sixty  of  the  beauty  and 
fashion  of  the  Manchu  aristocracy  appeared  before  the 
critical  eye  of  the  widow  of  Tao-Kuang,  who  selected 
twenty-eight  from  among  them,  and  these  she  divided  into 
the  four  classes  of  Imperial  concubines,  viz.,  "Fei,"  "P'in," 
"Kuei  Jen,"  and  "Ch'ang  Tsai."  Sakota  thus  became  a 
"P'in,"  and  Yehonala  a  "Kuei  Jen"  or  "honourable 
person."  With  rare  exceptions,  these  Imperial  concubines 
are  much  more  the  servants  of  their  mother-in-law  than 
the  wives  of  their  sovereign.  In  theory,  their  number  is 
limited  to  seventy,  but  this  number  is  seldom  maintained; 
beside  them,  there  are  within  the  Palace  precincts  some 
two  thousand  female  Manchus,  employed  as  handmaidens 
and  general  servants  under  the  direction  of  the  eunuchs. 
In  all  domestic  matters  of  the  household,  the  widow  of  the 
Emperor  last  deceased  exercises  supreme  authority,  and 
although    precedent  allows   the    Emperor   to    inspect    the 


PARENTAGE   AND  YOUTH  OF  YEHONALA      9 

ladies  selected,  he  has  no  voice  in  their  disposition  or  the 
determination  of  their  rank. 

Thus  Yehonala  left  her  home  in  Pewter  Lane  to  become 
an  inmate  of  the  Forbidden  City,  cut  off  henceforth  from 
all  direct  intercourse  with  her  own  people.  An  aged  tiring 
woman  who  served  her  from  the  time  of  her  first  entry 
into  the  Palace  until  her  death,  is  our  authority  for  the 
following  interesting  description  of  the  only  visit  which 
she  ever  paid  to  her  family.  It  was  in  January  1857,  nine 
months  after  the  birth  of  her  son,  the  heir  to  the  Throne, 
that,  by  special  permission  of  the  Emperor,  she  was  allowed 
to  leave  the  Palace.  Early  in  the  morning,  eunuchs  were 
sent  to  announce  to  her  mother  that  her  daughter,  the 
Concubine  Yi,  was  coming  to  visit  her  at  mid-day.  There 
was  much  joyful  excitement  amongst  the  family  and  its 
friends  at  this  rare  honour.  All  the  neighbours  in  Pewter 
Lane  turned  out  to  see  the  eunuchs  and  the  yellow-draped 
chair.  The  mother  and  all  the  members  of  the  household 
(including  some  of  an  elder  generation)  ranged  themselves 
on  either  side  of  the  entrance  courtyard  as  the  chair  was 
borne  within.  At  the  head  of  the  steps  leading  to  the  inner 
courtyard  the  eunuchs  in  attendance  requested  her  to 
descend;  she  then  entered  the  main  room,  where  she  took 
the  seat  of  honour.  Her  family  approached  respectfully 
to  salute  her,  all  kneeling  except  her  mother  and  the  elder 
relatives.  A  banquet  was  then  served  at  which,  by  special 
arrangement,  the  mother  took  a  seat  lower  than  that  of  the 
daughter,  thus  recognising  her  position  as  mother  of  the 
Heir  Apparent.  All  present  were  most  favourably  im- 
pressed by  Yehonala's  unaffected  and  affectionate  disposi- 
tion; she  seemed  quite  unspoiled  by  the  formalities  and 
splendours  of  Court  life,  talking  with  all  the  old  vivacity 
as  a  daughter  of  the  house,  showing  the  keenest  interest 
in  the  family's  affairs,  and  particularly  in  the  education  of 
her  sisters. 

The  banquet  lasted  till  late  in  the  afternoon,  Yehonala 
asking  and  answering  innumerable  questions.  As  the 
short  January  day  drew  to  its  close,  the  eunuchs  requested 
her  to  prepare  to  return  to  the  Palace.    She  therefore  took 


10    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

an  afifectionate  farewell  of  her  family,  expressing  sincere 
regret  that  her  life  must  be  cut  off  from  theirs,  but  hoping 
that  some  day  the  Emperor  might  again  permit  her  to  visit 
them.  Her  mother,  she  said,  would,  in  any  case,  be 
allowed  to  come  and  see  her  in  the  Palace.  After  distri- 
buting presents  to  all  the  members  of  her  family,  she 
entered  her  palanquin  and  was  borne  away.  She  never 
saw  her  home  again,  but  in  later  years  her  mother  used 
frequently  to  visit  her  in  the  Forbidden  City. 

Upon  entering  the  Palace,  Yehonala  proceeded  to  estab- 
lish herself  firmly  and  speedily  in  the  good  graces  of  Tao- 
Kuang's  widow;  through  her  influence  at  first,  and  later 
by  virtue  of  her  own  charm,  she  soon  became  first  favourite 
with  her  weak  and  dissolute  lord;  and  when,  in  April  1856, 
she  crowned  his  long  disappointed  ambitions  by  present- 
ing him  with  an  heir  to  the  Throne,  her  position  was  com- 
petely  assured.  At  the  time  of  her  entering  the  Palace, 
the  Taiping  rebellion  was  causing  great  uneasiness  at  the 
capital.  In  March  1853,  the  rebels  took  Nanking,  the 
southern  capital.  Yehonala,  who  had  already  made  it  her 
business  to  read,  and  advise  on,  all  Memorials  from  the 
provinces,  used  her  growing  influence  with  the  Son  of 
Heaven  to  secure  the  appointment  of  Tseng  Kuo-fan  as 
Commander-in-Chief,  and  to  provide  him  with  funds  for 
the  raising  of  train-bands  in  Hunan,  with  which,  and 
with  the  help  of  General  Gordon,  Tseng  eventually  sup- 
pressed the  rebellion.  Thus  early  she  showed  her  superi- 
ority to  environment  and  the  fetters  of  tradition,  display- 
ing at  a  moment  of  national  danger  that  breadth  of  mind 
and  quick  decision  which  distinguished  her.  By  all 
official  precedent,  Tseng  Kuo-fan  was  not  available  for 
service,  being  in  mourning  for  his  mother,  but  it  was  ever 
Yehonala's  opinion  that  precedents  were  meant  to  be  sub- 
ordinate to  the  State  and  not  the  State  to  precedents, 
wherein  lies  the  mark  of  the  born  ruler. 

In  August  1855  the  widow  of  Tao-Kuang  died  and 
Yehonala,  in  recognition  "of  her  dutiful  ministrations," 
was  raised  to  the  rank  of  "P'in,"  her  colleague  Sakota 
having  in  the  meanwhile  become  Empress  Consort. 


PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH  OF  YEHONALA  ii 

It  was  the  common  belief  of  Chinese  writers  at  this  time 
that  the  reign  of  Hsien-Feng  would  witness  the  end  of  the 
Dynasty,  which  was  held  to  have  "exhausted  the  mandate 
of  Heaven."  All  over  the  Empire  rebellion  was  rife;  the 
sovereign  himself  was  a  weak  debauchee,  incapable  of 
inspiring  either  loyalty  or  affection  in  his  people.  In  the 
eyes  of  the  literati  he  was  a  degenerate,  having  none  of 
the  scholarly  tastes  which  had  made  his  five  predecessors 
famous  in  history,  nor  any  disposition  to  follow  their 
example  in  the  compiling  of  monumental  editions  of  the 
classics  and  dictionaries,  which  have  endeared  their 
memory  to  scholars.  It  was,  moreover,  considered  omin- 
ous that  no  heir  had  yet  been  born  to  him,  though  he  was 
now  twenty-five,  several  of  his  predecessors  having  pro- 
vided for  the  succession  before  they  were  fifteen.  When, 
therefore,  in  April  1856,  Yehonala  gave  birth  to  a  son,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  rebels  were  driven  from  the  provinces 
of  Hunan  and  Kiangsi,  it  was  felt  that  the  tide  of  evil  had 
turned  and  that  Heaven's  favour  once  more  smiled  upon 
the  Throne. 

At  this  period,  the  health  of  the  Emperor,  stricken  with 
paralysis,  had  completely  broken  down  and  Yehonala,  by 
virtue  of  her  position  as  mother  of  the  Heir  Apparent, 
and  even  more  by  reason  of  her  masterful  character,  became 
the  real  ruler  of  the  Empire.  Her  colleague,  the  Empress 
Consort,  took  little  or  no  active  interest  in  the  business 
of  government.  In  actual  rank,  Yehonala  had  risen  to 
the  position  of  a  concubine  of  the  first  grade  **  Fei "  and 
was  generally  known  in  the  metropolis  as  the  "Kuei  Fei, 
Yi,"  the  last  word  being  her  honorific  title,  meaning 
"feminine  virtue." 

Her  advice  on  foreign  affairs  at  this  period  was  generally 
of  an  aggressive  character,  and  the  fact  is  not  matter  for 
wonder  when  we  bear  in  mind  her  youth,  her  pride  of  race 
and  her  complete  ignorance  of  foreign  countries  and  their 
resources.  On  the  return  of  the  special  Envoy  Ch'i  Ying, 
who  had  been  sent  to  endeavour  to  induce  Lord  Elgin  to 
leave  Taku  and  whose  mission  had  ignominiously  failed, 
it   was   to   the   haughty   Yehonala   that   common    report 


12      CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

credited  the  Decree  which  ordered  him  to  be  presented 
with  the  "silken  cord"  of  self-despatch,  as  a  mark  of  "the 
Throne's  benevolent  leniency."  To  her  also  was  ascribed 
the  Emperor's  refusal  to  permit  the  High  Commissioner 
Yeh  at  Canton  to  negotiate  with  the  British  on  trade 
questions,  a  decision  which  led  directly  to  the  capture  of 
that  city  by  the  foreign  barbarian  in  the  following  year. 
In  the  records  left  by  chroniclers  and  diarists  of  that  time 
it  is  generally  noticeable  that  the  Emperor's  opinions  and 
doings  are  ignored  and  that  all  the  business  of  the  Imperial 
City  and  the  Empire  had  come  to  depend  on  the  word  of 
Yehonala,  a  fact  in  itself  sufficiently  remarkable  in  a 
country  where  no  woman  is  supposed  to  rule,  and  particu- 
larly remarkable  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  she  was  at  this 
time  only  a  concubine  and  twenty-two  years  of  age. 

To  prevent  confusion  arising  from  the  several  names 
and  titles  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  it  should  be  explained 
that  her  family  or  clan  name  of  Yehonala  was  that  by  which 
she  was  known  to  the  world  of  Peking  before  and  at  the 
time  of  her  selection  for  the  Imperial  harem.  In  the  Palace, 
until  her  accession  to  the  rank  of  Empress  Mother  (Em- 
press of  the  West),  she  was  still  Yehonala,  but  more 
usually  described  as  the  "Yi"  concubine.  As  co-Regent 
and  Empress  Mother,  her  official  designation.  Imperially 
decreed,  was  Tzu  Hsi,  to  which  many  other  honorifics  were 
added.  To  the  mass  of  the  people  she  was  either  the 
Empress  Dowager  (Huang  T'ai  Hou)  or  the  Old  Buddha, 
and  towards  the  end  of  her  reign  this  last  affectionately 
respectful  title  was  universally  used  in  the  North. 


II 

THE   FLIGHT  TO   JEHOL 

The  causes  and  history  of  the  invasion  of  North  China 
by  the  allied  forces  of  England  and  France  are  too  well 
known  to  need  re-stating  here,  but  the  part  played  by 
Yehonala  in  the  stirring  days  which  preceded  and  followed 
the  flight  to  Jehol  are  not  familiar  to  European  readers. 
Most  interesting  details  are  given  on  this  subject  by  a 
certain  Doctor  of  Letters  and  member  of  the  Hanlin 
Academy,  whose  diary  was  printed  privately  in  narrative 
form  several  years  later,  and  from  this  document  the  follow- 
ing extracts  are  taken.  It  was  originally  entitled  "  A  Record 
of  Grief  Incurable"  and,  as  will  be  noted,  it  is  primarily 
a  monument  of  filial  piety,  into  which  the  doings  of  the 
barbarians,  and  the  already  dominant  personality  of 
Yehonala,  are  artlessly  interwoven,  with  a  certain  quality 
of  sincerity  that  attracts.  The  narrative  itself  is  full  of 
human  interest. 

"In  the  7th  Moon  of  the  *  Keng  Shen  '  year  (August  i860), 
five  or  six  days  after  my  mother  fell  sick,  rumours  began  to 
circulate  that  the  barbarians  had  already  reached  Taku.  It 
was  generally  known  that  many  Memorials  had  reached  the 
Throne  from  the  metropolitan  and  provincial  officials,  but  as 
no  mention  of  them  had  appeared  in  the  Gazette,  it  was  only 
natural  that  there  should  be  a  very  widespread  feeling  of 
uneasiness  and  many  alarming  rumours.  So  far,  however, 
there  had  been  no  fleeing  from  the  city.  His  Majesty  was 
seriously  ill,  and  it  was  known  that  he  wished  to  leave  for 
the  north,  but  the  Imperial  Concubine  Yi  and  Prince  Seng 
dissuaded  him  from  this  and  assured  him  that  the  barbarians 
would  never  enter  the  city. 

"At  this  time  my  mother  was  suffering  from  dysentery, 
but  she  ordered  the  servants  to  keep  it  from  me.  It  was 
only  one  day,  when  I  noticed  a  prescription  lying  on  her 
table,  that  I  realised  that  she  was  indeed  seriously  ill.  Doctor 
Liu  was  in  attendance,   as  usual,  but  I   never  had   any  con- 

13 


14    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

fidence  in  him  or  his  methods,  which  seemed  to  me  far  too 
drastic.  Nevertheless  he  had  advised  and  attended  her  for 
seven  years,  and  my  mother  and  all  her  household  placed 
implicit  confidence  in  him.  Alas,  the  Ancients  have  rightly 
said  that  a  good  son  should  know  something  of  the  principles 
of  medicine,  and  surely  my  ignorance  has  been  the  first  cause 
of  my  mother's  death.  Though  I  should  give  up  my  life  a 
hundred  times,  how  can  I  ever  atone  for  this? 

"During  the  next  few  days,  people  began  to  leave  Peking, 
for  the  report  was  spread  that  our  troops  had  been  defeated 
at  Taku,  and  that  a  Brigadier  General  was  among  the  slain ; 
the  garrison  had  fled  from  Pei  T'ang  and  the  forts  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  barbarians.  Prince  Seng  had  been  ordered 
by  Edict  not  to  fight  a  pitched  battle,  so  that  our  forces  were 
idly  confronting  the  enemy.  Nothing  definite  was  known  as 
to  the  real  cause  of  our  defeat,  and  the  people,  being  kept  in 
ignorance,  gradually  got  over  their  first  alarm. 

"On  the  13th  of  the  7th  Moon,  I  noticed  a  change  for  the 
worse  in  my  mother's  condition,  and  straightway  applied  for 
ten  days'  leave  of  absence  from  my  official  duties.  I  kept 
her  ignorant  of  the  political  situation  and  urged  her  to  abstain 
from  worry  of  every  kind.  But  every  day  the  news  was  worse, 
and  people  began  to  leave  the  city  in  thousands. 

"On  the  following  day,  Magistrate  Li  Min-chai  looked  in 
to  say  good-bye,  as  he  was  leaving  to  join  the  troops  in 
Anhui.  He  expressed  strong  disapproval  of  Dr.  Liu's  pre- 
scription and  gave  me  one  of  his  own.  My  mother  was  averse 
to  taking  his  medicine,  but  I  persuaded  her  to  do  so.  In  the 
night  she  was  suddenly  seized  with  shortness  of  breath,  and 
hastily  I  sent  for  Mr.  Li,  who  assured  me  that  this  was  in 
no  way  due  to  his  medicine.  My  mother,  however,  insisted 
upon  returning  to  Dr.  Liu's  prescription,  so  all  I  could  do 
was  to  urge  him  to  compound  it  of  drugs  less  strong  and 
more  suited  to  a  patient  of  my  mother's  advanced  years. 

"My  mother  then  bade  me  to  prepare  her  coffin  as  she  was 
certain  that  her  death  was  near.  Fortunately  I  had  bought 
the  wood  eight  years  before  at  Mukden,  and  had  stored  it  in 
a  coffin  shop  in  Peking,  whence  I  now  had  it  fetched.  We 
set  carpenters  to  work  in  our  courtyard,  and  by  the  20th,  the 
coffin  was  finished.  The  wood  was  beautifully  thick,  and  the 
whole  appearance  of  the  coffin  most  creditable.  Never  could 
I  have  expected  that  at  such  a  time  of  haste  and  general 
disorder  so  perfect  a  piece  of  work  could  have  been  produced. 
The  carpenters  assured  me  that  at  the  present  time  such  a 
coffin  would  cost  at  least  a  thousand  taels  in  Peking.^  This 
comforted  me  not  a  little. 

1  About  £120. 


THE  FLIGHT  TO  JEHOL  15 

"Next  morning  the  lacquer  shop  people  sent  over  to  put 
on  the  first  coating  of  lacquer,  in  which  at  least  two  pounds 
were  used.  We  then  sent  for  the  tailor  and  six  assistants  to 
make  the  grave  clothes  and  purchased  the  materials  for  my 
mother's  ceremonial  'going  away  dress.'  I  had  a  long  sable 
robe  made  up,  but  next  day,  as  my  mother  appeared  to  be 
slightly  better,  I  decided  to  postpone  having  the  long  outer 
robes  prepared.  Rumours  were  now  rife  that  the  barbarians 
had  already  reached  Tungchou,  and  were  going  to  bombard 
Peking  on  the  27th,  so  that  everyone  was  escaping  who  could 
leave  the  city.  On  the  27th,  we  put  on  the  second  coating 
of  lacquer. 

"On  that  day,  our  troops  captured  the  barbarian  leader 
Pa  Hsia-li  (Parkes)  together  with  eight  others,  who  were 
imprisoned  in  the  Board  of  Punishments.  Thereupon  the 
whole  city  was  in  an  uproar,  and  it  became  known  that  His 
Majesty  was  preparing  to  leave  on  a  tour  northwards.  But 
the  Concubine  Yi  persuaded  some  of  the  older  officials  to 
memorialise,  urging  him  to  remain,  none  of  which  Memorials 
have  been  published.  All  the  Manchu  and  Chinese  officials 
were  now  sending  their  famiHes  away  and  their  valuables,  but 
the  large  shops  outside  the  main  gate  were  doing  business  as 
usual.  My  mother's  condition  remained  much  the  same,  and 
I  applied  for  another  ten  days'  leave. 

"On  the  I  St  of  the  8th  Moon,  we  applied  another  coating 
of  lacquer  to  the  coffin.  On  the  same  day  Dr.  Liu  changed 
my  mother's  medicine,  but  the  dysentery  continued  unabated. 

"On  the  4th  my  mother  called  me  to  her  bedside  and 
said  :  *  I  cannot  possibly  recover.  See  that  all  is  prepared  for 
the  burial.  I  shall  take  no  food  to-day.'  I  felt  as  if  a 
knife  had  been  thrust  into  my  vitals,  and  sent  straightway 
for  the  tailor  to  hurry  on  with  the  ceremonial  robes.  My 
friend,  P'an  Yu-shih,  called  and  recommended  a  purgative, 
but  rny  mother  was  very  angry,  and  refused  point-blank  to 
take  it.  In  the  night  she  had  a  violent  attack  of  vomiting, 
which  seemed  to  relieve  her — so  much  so,  that  I  told  the 
tailor  not  to  be  in  too  great  a  hurry.  Next  morning  the 
robes  were  finished,  but  my  mother  thought  the  coverlet  too 
heavy,  and  I  substituted  therefor  a  lighter  material,  silk. 
To  this  she  objected  as  being  too  luxurious  and  more  expen- 
sive than  she  had  any  right  to  expect;  she  observed  that 
her  parents-in-law  had  not  had  grave-wrappings  of  such 
valuable  stuff.  Meanwhile  the  confusion  in  Peking  was  hourly 
increasing,  and  huge  crowds  were  hurrying  from  the  city. 
Most  of  the  city  gates  were  closed  for  fear  of  the  barbarians, 
but  the  Chang  Yi  gate  in  the  southern  city  was  still  open. 

"On  the  7th,  our  troops  engaged  the  barbarians  outside  the 
Ch'i  Hua  gate.     The  van  was  composed  of  untrained  Mongol 


i6    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

cavalry,  who  had  never  been  in  action.  No  sooner  had  the 
barbarians  opened  fire  than  they  turned  as  one  man,  broke 
their  ranks  and  stampeded  upon  the  infantry  in  their  rear. 
Many  were  trampled  to  death,  and  a  general  rout  followed, 
our  men  fleeing  in  every  direction  and  the  barbarians  pressing 
on  to  the  city  walls. 

"Certain  Princes  and  Ministers  besought  the  Concubine  Yi 
to  induce  the  Emperor  to  leave  on  a  tour.  His  Majesty  was 
only  too  anxious  to  start  at  once,  but  the  Concubine  Yi  per- 
suaded two  of  the  Grand  Secretaries  to  memorialise  against 
his  doing  so,  and  in  response  to  this  a  Decree  was  issued 
stating  that  under  no  cirumstances  would  the  Emperor  leave 
his  capital.  Another  Decree  was  put  out  by  the  Concubine 
Yi  offering  large  rewards  to  any  who  should  slay  the  barbarians. 
It  was  generally  thought  that  the  Emperor  would  now  forgo 
his  intended   departure. 

"Early  next  morning  we  heard  the  news  of  another  engage- 
ment outside  the  Ch'i  Hua  gate,  upon  which  news  His  Sacred 
Majesty,  attended  by  all  his  concubines,  the  Princes,  Ministers 
and  Dukes,  and  all  the  officers  of  the  Household,  left  the  city 
in  a  desperate  rout  and  disorder  unspeakable,  affording  a 
spectacle  that  gave  the  impression  that  hordes  of  barbarians 
were  already  in  close  pursuit.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
foreigners  were  still  at  a  considerable  distance,  and  at  the 
Summer  Palace,  where  the  Court  lay,  there  was  nothing  what- 
soever to  cause  the  slightest  apprehension.  I  cannot  under- 
stand why  His  Majesty  was  allowed  to  leave;  up  to  the  very 
last  the  Yi  Concubine  begged  him  to  remain  in  his  Palace,  as 
his  presence  there  could  not  fail  to  awe  the  barbarians,  and 
thus  to  exercise  a  protecting  influence  for  the  good  of  the  city 
and  people.  How,  said  she,  could  the  barbarians  be  expected 
to  spare  the  city  if  the  Sacred  Chariot  had  fled,  leaving  unpro- 
tected the  tutelary  shrines  and  the  altars  of  the  gods?  She 
begged  him  to  bear  in  mind  that  episode  in  the  Chou  Dynasty, 
when  the  Son  of  Heaven  fled  his  capital,  *  his  head  covered 
with  dust,'  and  was  forced  to  take  refuge  with  one  of  his 
feudatory  Princes.  The  Chinese  people  have  always  regarded  this 
as  a  humiliating  event  in  the  history  of  their  country,  but  the 
present  flight  of  the  Court  appears  more  humiliating  still. 

"Meantime  my  mother's  condition  was  becoming  critical, 
and  I  had  scant  leisure  for  considering  the  pohtical  situation. 
Every  official  of  any  standing  had  either  left  the  capital  by 
this  time  or  was  leaving,  and  all  the  merchants  who  could 
afford  it  were  sending  their  families  away.  The  cost  of 
transport  was  prohibitive  for  many ;  the  price  of  a  cart  with 
one  mule  to  go  to  Cho-chou  was  twenty  taels,  and  to  Pao- 
ting  fu  (60  miles)  they  charged  thirty  taels.  In  my  case 
there  could  be  no  question  of  removing  my  mother,  and  there 


Photo'^Ogawa,   Tokio. 

The  Imperial  Dais  in  the  Chiao-T'ai  Hall. 


c  c    c     c       c     c       c 

,«t.  ,       t     e    •    *•    <^      ' 

c        f  e    c      c     e  e »    I.      c 


•*•  * 


THE  FLIGHT  TO   JEHOL  17 

was  nothing  for  it  therefore  but  to  sit  still  and  face  the 
situation. 

"As  the  dysentery  grew  more  acute  every  day,  with  Dr. 
Liu's  permission  I  tried  Dr.  Yang's  prescription.  It  was, 
however,  too  late,  and  nothing  could  help  her  now.  On  the 
morning  of  the  12th  she  was  in  extremis,  and  had  lost  the 
power  of  swallowing;  so  we  sent  for  Li,  the  tailor,  to  put  a 
few  finishing  touches  on  the  burial  robes,  and  to  prepare  the 
*  cockcrow  pillow  '  and  coverlets.  At  11  p.m.  she  passed  away, 
abandoning  her  most  undutiful  son.  Alas,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  her  death  lies  at  my  door,  because  of  my  ignorance  of 
medicine.  Smiting  my  body  against  the  ground,  I  invoke 
Heaven,  but  ten  thousand  separate  deaths  could  not  atone  for 
my  sins. 

"We  arrayed  her,  then,  in  her  robes.  First  her  hand- 
maiden put  on  the  inner  garments,  a  chemise  of  white  silk, 
then  a  jacket  of  grey  silk,  and  outside  that  a  wadded  robe  of 
blue  satin.  Then  were  put  on  the  robe  and  mantle  of  State, 
with  the  badge  of  her  official  rank,  the  jade  girdle  and  neck- 
lace of  amber.  After  the  gold  hair  ornaments  had  been  placed 
in  position,  the  Phoenix  hat  was  set  upon  her  head ;  red  mat- 
tresses were  laid  upon  the  couch,  and  we  placed  her  in  a 
comfortable  position,  with  her  head  reclining  on  the  *  cock- 
crow '  pillow  of  red  satin.  Not  a  friend  came  near  us,  and 
every  door  in  the  neighbourhood  was  closed.  Next  morning 
I  lined  the  coffin  with  red  satin,  and  then  padded  it  with 
straw  to  prevent  it  shaking,  and  at  3  p.m.  I  invited  my  mother 
to  ascend  into  her  *  long  home. ' 

"The  city  was  in  a  terrible  tumult,  and  a  friend  came  in 
to  advise  me  to  bury  my  mother  temporarily  in  a  temple  out- 
side the  city.  It  would  not  be  safe,  he  said,  to  inter  her  in 
the  courtyard  of  this  house,  for  the  barbarian  is  suspicious  by 
nature,  and  will  assuredly  search  every  house  in  Peking  as 
soon  as  the  city,  is  taken.  It  was  impossible  for  me  to  consider 
calmly  what  might  happen  if  they  were  to  find  and  to  desecrate 
my  mother's  coffin.  I  remembered  what  has  been  told  of  their 
doings  in  Canton  under  similar  circumstances. 

"On  the  14th,  the  Chang  Yi  gate  was  opened,  and  I  found 
a  temple,  suitably  situated,  which  the  priest  was  willing  to 
allow  me  to  rent.  I  prepared  therefore  to  watch  over  my 
mother's  remains,  sending  my  family  in  the  meanwhile  to  live 
with  an  old  pupil  of  mine  at  Pa-chou.  Only  the  two  western 
gates  of  the  Chinese  city  were  still  open,  and  as  the  Hata 
Men  and  the  Ch'ien  Men  had  been  closed  for  four  days,  the 
stream  of  traffic  through  the  Shun  Chih  Men  caused  perpetual 
blocks  in  that  gateway.  All  the  small  pedlars,  hawkers  and 
barbers  were  fleeing  the  city,  but  still  the  large  business  houses 
remained  open. 


i8    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

"On  the  19th  I  conveyed  my  mother's  remains  to  the 
temple;  I  found  all  quiet  there,  but  my  progress  through  the 
city  gate  was  very  slow  because  of  the  crowd.  On  the  23rd 
there  were  but  few  people  abroad,  and  these  clustering  together 
in  small  groups  and  speaking  in  low  voices.  Suddenly,  a  little 
after  mid-day,  an  immense  blaze  was  seen  to  the  north-^yest, 
and  speedily  it  was  reported  that  the  barbarians  had  seized 
Hai-tien  and  the  Summer  Palace.  Our  army  is  said  to  number 
half  a  million  men,  and  yet  it  seems  that  not  one  of  them  dare 
oppose  the  barbarians'  advance.  They  have  about  a  thousand 
of  cavalry,  yet  they  move  about  at  will  in  our  midst  as  if  in 
an  uninhabited  wilderness !  'Tis  passing  strange !  The 
troops  of  Prince  Seng  and  General  Sheng  have  retreated  to 
the  Te  Sheng  gate. 

"On  the  24th  all  the  shops  were  closed,  and  the  higher  the 
price  of  vehicles,  the  greater  the  number  of  people  to  wish  to 
engage  them.  The  poorer  class  were  using  wheelbarrows,  on 
which  they  packed  their  most  valuable  moveables  for  flight. 

"Prince  Kung  sent  an  Envoy  to  the  barbarians*  camp  with 
a  despatch  asking  for  an  armistice.  On  arriving  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  camp,  however,  the  messenger  saw  the 
barbarians  pointing  rifles  at  him,  so  that  he  turned  and 
fled. 

"On  the  afternoon  of  the  24th,  vast  columns  of  smoke  were 
seen  rising  to  the  north-west,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  the 
barbarians  had  entered  the  Summer  Palace,  and  after  plunder- 
ing the  three  main  halls,  leaving  them  absolutely  bare,  they 
had  set  fire  to  the  buildings.  Their  excuse  for  this  abominable 
behaviour  is  that  their  troops  got  out  of  hand,  and  had  com- 
mitted the  incendiarism.  After  this  they  issued  notices, 
placarded  everywhere,  in  very  bad  Chinese,  stating  that  unless 
terms  of  peace  had  been  arranged  before  mid-day  on  the  29th, 
they  would  then  bombard  Peking,  in  which  case  all  inhabitants 
who  did  not  wish  to  share  the  fate  of  the  city  had  better  remove 
themselves  to  a  safe  distance. 

"On  this  day  it  was  reported  that  The  Sacred  Chariot  had 
reached  Jehol  in  safety,  but  His  Majesty  had  been  greatly 
alarmed,  and  had  issued  a  Decree  expressing  regret  for  his 
failure  to  commit  suicide  on  the  approach  of  the  invaders. 
The  Emperor  is  reported  to  be  ill,  and  it  is  said  that  the 
Princes  Tsai  Yiian  and  Tuan  Hua  are  trying  to  get  themselves 
appointed  to  the  Grand  Council.  Should  the  Emperor  die 
(lit.  '  when  ten  thousand  years  have  passed  ')  the  Yi  concubine 
will  be  made  Empress  Dowager,  but  at  present  she  is  reported 
to  be  at  variance  with  the  Princes,  who  are  endeavouring  to 
prejudice  the  Emperor  against  her. 

"  I  learnt  that  all  was  quiet  at  the  temple  where  my 
mother's  coffin  rests.     Troops  were  passing  there  daily,   but. 


THE  FLIGHT  TO  JEHOL  19 

so  far,  none  had  occupied  it.  On  the  29th,  my  servant-boy, 
Yung  'Erh,  came  to  tell  me  that  troops  from  Tientsin  in  the 
pay  of  the  barbarians  had  occupied  the  temple,  but  on  pro- 
ceeding thither  I  found  them  to  be  General  Sheng's  men. 
Prince  Seng's  troops  were  also  near  at  hand,  so  that,  if  a 
bombardment  had  taken  place,  what  could  have  prevented 
the  destruction  of  the  temple,  and  what  would  then  have  become 
of  my  mother's  remains?  I  therefore  decided  to  engage  wheel- 
barrows and  handcarts,  at  six  taels  apiece,  to  take  my  family 
to  Pao-ting  fu,  and  I  arranged  with  the  undertakers  to  hire 
bearers  for  the  coffin. 

"At  II  a.m.  of  the  same  day  the  barbarians  entered  the 
city  by  the  Anting  gate,  occupying  its  tower  and  the  wall 
adjoining.  One  large  cannon  and  four  small  ones  were  placed 
in  position  on  the  wall,  and  a  five-coloured  flag  hoisted  there. 
With  the  exception  of  the  officials  entrusted  with  the  duty  of 
negotiating,  not  one  remained  in  the  city.  Two  days  ago  the 
prisoner  Parkes,  and  his  companions,  were  sent  back  to  the 
enemy  with  every  mark  of  courtesy.  Scarcely  had  they  reached 
their  camp  when  a  special  Decree,  post-haste  from  Jehol, 
ordered  Prince  Kung  to  decapitate  them  all  forthwith  as  a 
warning  to  the  bandits  who  had  dared  to  invade  the  sacred 
precincts  of  the  Palace.  As  the  Yi  concubine  had  urged  their 
execution  from  the  very  first,  it  would  seem  as  if  her  influence 
were  again  in  the  ascendant. 

"On  the  I  St  of  the  9th  Moon,  the  Chang  Yi  gate  was 
closed,  but  I  managed  to  leave  the  city  by  the  Hsi  Pien  M^n, 
where  I  was  nearly  crushed  to  death  in  the  enormous  crowd. 
Upon  my  arrival  at  the  temple,  I  had  a  nice  wadded  cover 
made  to  put  over  the  coffin,  and  then  hurried  back  to  the  city 
to  arrange  for  the  cortege  leaving  next  morning.  The  Pre- 
sident of  the  Board  of  Finance,  Liang  Hai-lou,  was  hiding 
in  the  temple  precincts  with  his  family  and  chief  concubine, 
all  wearing  common  clothes  and  unshaven.  This  is  a  good 
example  of  the  condition  to  which  the  very  highest  had  been 
reduced. 

"Next  morning,  on  reaching  the  temple,  I  found  the  coffin- 
bearers  and  transport  coolies  on  the  spot.  But,  unfortunately, 
in  my  hurry,  I  failed  to  notice  that  the  undertakers  had  supplied 
the  frame,  on  which  the  coffin  is  carried,  of  a  size  smaller  .than 
had  been  agreed  upon,  so  that  instead  of  sixteen  bearers  there 
were  but  eight.  We  started,  however,  and  the  procession's 
appearance  of  panic-stricken  fugitives  was  most  distressing 
to  contemplate.  But  what  could  I  do?  The  first  and  only 
object  in  my  mind  was  to  protect  my  mother's  coffin.  I  have 
omitted  to  state  that  my  small  servant-boy,  Yung  'Erh,  had 
started  to  accompany  the  coffin  on  foot.  But,  after  they  had 
started,  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  lad  could  never  stand  so  long 


20    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

a  journey,  and  that  should  my  mother  be  aware  of  it,  she  would 
be  extremely  anxious  about  him.  Therefore,  I  quickly  engaged 
another  wheelbarrow  for  Yung  'Erh,  and  bade  the  coolies 
hurry  after  the  procession. 

"On  returning  home  I  felt  uneasy  about  the  jolting  which 
my  mother's  coffin  must  have  experienced  on  the  undersized 
frame.  I  went,  therefore,  to  the  undertakers  and  expostulated 
with  them  for  having  cheated  me.  After  much  altercation 
they  agreed  to  change  the  frame,  but  I  was  to  pay  two  taels 
more  for  the  larger  size.  I  subsequently  learned  that  they 
failed  to  keep  their  promise,  but  there  was  no  good  to  be  got 
by  suing  them  for  breach  of  faith.  They  are  sordid  tricksters. 
Yung  'Erh  wrote,  however,  to  assure  me  that  the  party  had 
reached  Pao-ting  fu  in  safety,  and  that  the  coffin  had  not  been 
jolted  in  the  least.  On  removing  the  wrappings  the  lacquer 
was  found  to  be  undamaged. 

"The  barbarians  were  now  in  full  possession  of  the  city, 
and  rumours  were  rife  on  all  sides.  Everyone  in  Peking — 
there  were  still  a  good  many  people — was  terrified,  and  the 
Manchus  were  sending  their  families  from  the  Tartar  to  the 
southern  (Chinese)  city  to  save  their  women  from  being  out- 
raged by  the  barbarian  bandits.  The  condition  of  the  people 
was  indeed  deplorable  in  the  extreme.  One  of  the  Censors 
had  sent  a  Memorial  to  Jehol,  reproaching  the  Emperor  for 
the  pass  to  which  he  had  brought  his  people,  and  for  the  neglect 
of  ancestral  worship  caused  by  his  absence.  He  blamed  His 
Majesty  for  listening  to  evil  advisers,  and  besought  him  to 
return  to  his  capital. 

"The  minds  of  the  people  were  becoming  more  than  ever 
disturbed,  because  it  was  now  reported  that  the  negotiations 
for  peace  had  so  far  failed,  either  because  Prince  Kung  would 
not  entertain  the  barbarians'  conditions,  or  because  the  latter 
were  too  utterly  preposterous. 

"On  the  6th,  a  despatch  arrived  from  the  British  barbarians, 
accusing  China  of  having  violated  all  civilised  usage  in  tortur- 
ing to  death  their  fellow-countrymen.  For  this  they  demanded 
an  indemnity  of  500,000  taels.  At  the  same  time  came  a 
despatch  from  the  Russian  barbarians,  saying  that  they  had 
heard  that  England  was  demanding  this  indemnity,  but  they 
(the  Russians)  were  prepared  to  use  their  influence  and  good 
offices  to  persuade  the  British  to  abate  their  claims.  Prince 
Kung  was  of  opinion  that,  even  if  they  should  be  successful 
in  this  proposed  mediation,  China  would  only  save  some 
100,000  taels,  and  for  this  she  would  place  herself  under  heavy 
obligations  to  Russia.  So  he  replied,  declining  the  offer  on  the 
ground  that  the  British  claim  had  already  been  accepted  by 
China,  and  that  further  discussion  of  the  matter  was  therefore 
impossible.     Thereupon  the  Russians  wrote  again,  saying  that 


THE  FLIGHT  TO  JEHOL  21 

if  China  had  definitely  accepted  the  British  terms  there  was, 
of  course,  nothing  more  to  be  said,  but  they  asked  Prince 
Kung-  to  note  that  they  had  induced  England  to  forgo  half  of 
the  indemnity  of  two  million  taels  originally  asked,  as  a  set-off 
to  China  for  the  destruction  of  the  Summer  Palace.  On  the 
9th,  Prince  Kung  forwarded  the  500,000  taels  to  the  British 
barbarians. 

"The  whole  sixteen  articles  of  the  barbarians'  demands  have 
finally  been  accepted  without  modification.  The  only  thing 
that  our  negotiators  asked  was  the  immediate  withdrawal  of 
the  invading  army,  and  to  obtain  this  they  were  prepared  to 
yield  everything.  Therefore,  the  barbarians  openly  flout  China 
for  her  lack  of  men.  Woe  is  me ;  a  pitiful  tale,  and  one  hard 
to  tell !  When  the  Yi  concubine  heard  of  Prince  Kung's  com- 
plete surrender  to  the  barbarians  she  reproached  the  Emperor 
for  allowing  his  brother  to  negotiate,  and  she  implored  him 
to  re-open  hostilities.  But  His  Majesty  was  dangerously  ill, 
and  refused  to  leave  Jehol,  so  that  our  revenge  must  be 
postponed  for  the  time  being." 

Bearing  in  mind  the  frequent  allusions  made  by  the 
Hanlin  diarist  to  the  Emperor's  indecision  of  purpose  at 
the  time  of  the  advance  of  the  British  and  French  armies 
on  Peking,  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  Yehonala 
prompted,  if  she  did  not  write,  the  following  vigorous 
Edict,  which  appeared  on  the  3rd  day  of  the  8th  Moon  in 
the  loth  year  of  Hsien-Feng  (6th  September  i860) :  — 

*'  Swaying  the  wide  world,  we  are  nevertheless  animated  by 
one  and  the  same  instinct  of  benevolence  to  all.  We  have  never 
forbidden  England  and  France  to  trade  with  China,  and  for 
long  years  there  has  been  peace  between  them  and  us.  But 
three  years  ago  the  English,  for  no  good  cause,  invaded  our 
city  of  Canton,  and  carried  off  our  officials  into  captivity.  We 
refrained  at  that  time  from  taking  any  retaliatory  measures, 
because  we  were  compelled  to  recognise  that  the  obstinacy  of 
the  Viceroy  Yeh  had  been  in  some  measure  a  cause  of  the 
hostilities.  Two  years  ago  the  barbarian  Commander  Elgin 
came  north,  and  we  then  commanded  the  Viceroy  of  Chihli, 
T'an  Ting-hsiang,  to  look  into  matters  preparatory  to  negotia- 
tions. But  the  barbarian  took  advantage  of  our  unreadiness, 
attacking  the  Taku  forts  and  pressing  on  to  Tientsin.  Being 
anxious  to  spare  our  people  the  horrors  of  war,  we  again 
refrained  from  retaliation  and  ordered  Kuei  Liang  to  discuss 
terms  of  peace.  Notwithstanding  the  outrageous  nature  of  the 
barbarians'  demands,  we  subsequently  ordered  Kuei  Liang  to 
proceed  to  Shanghai  in  connection  with  the  proposed  Treaty 


22    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

of  Commerce,  and  even  permitted  its  ratification  as  earnest  of 
our  good  faith. 

"  In  spite  of  all  this  the  barbarian  leader  Bruce  again  dis- 
played intractability  of  the  most  unreasonable  kind  and  once 
more  appeared  off  Taku  with  a  squadron  of  warships  in  the 
8th  Moon.  Seng  Ko  Lin  Ch'in  thereupon  attacked  him  fiercely 
and  compelled  him  to  make  a  hasty  retreat.  From  all  these 
facts  it  is  clear  that  China  has  committed  no  breach  of  faith 
and  that  the  barbarians  have  been  in  the  wrong.  During  the 
present  year  the  barbarian  leaders  Elgin  and  Gros  have  again 
appeared  off  our  coasts,  but  China,  unwilling  to  resort  to 
extreme  measures,  agreed  to  their  landing  and  permitted  them 
to  come  to  Peking  for  the  ratification  of  the  Treaty. 

"Who  could  have  believed  that  all  this  time  these  barbarians 
have  been  darkly  plotting  and  that  they  had  brought  with 
them  an  army  of  soldiers  and  artillery,  with  which  they 
attacked  the  Taku  forts  from  the  rear,  and,  having  driven 
out  our  forces,  advanced  upon  Tientsin !  Once  more  we 
ordered  Kuei  Liang  to  go  to  Tientsin  and  endeavour  to  reason 
with  them,  in  the  hope  that  they  might  not  be  lost  to  all  sense 
of  propriety,  and  with  the  full  intention  that  their  demands, 
if  not  utterly  unreasonable,  should  be  conceded.  To  our  utter 
astonishment,  Elgin  and  his  colleague  had  the  audacity  to 
demand  an  indemnity  from  China;  they  asked,  too,  that  more 
Treaty  ports  should  be  opened,  and  that  they  should  be  allowed 
to  occupy  our  capital  with  their  army.  To  such  lengths  did 
their  brutality  and  cunning  lead  them  !  But  we  then  com- 
manded Prince  Yi  and  Mu  Yin,  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
War,  to  endeavour  to  induce  in  them  a  more  reasonable  spirit 
and  to  come  to  some  satisfactory  arrangement.  But  these 
treacherous  barbarians  dared  to  advance  their  savage  soldiery 
towards  Tungchou  and  to  announce  their  intention  of  com- 
pelling us  to  receive  them  in  audience. 

"Any  further  forbearance  on  our  part  would  be  a  dereliction 
of  our  duty  to  the  Empire,  so  that  we  have  now  commanded 
our  armies  to  attack  them  with  all  possible  energy  and  we 
have  directed  the  local  gentry  to  organise  train-bands,  and 
with  them  either  to  join  in  the  attack  or  to  block  the  barbarians* 
advance.  Hereby  we  make  offer  of  the  following  rewards  : — 
For  the  head  of  a  black  barbarian,  50  taels,  and  for  the  head 
of  a  white  barbarian,  100  taels.  For  the  capture  of  a  barbarian 
leader,  alive  or  dead,  500  taels,  and  for  the  seizure  or  destruc- 
tion of  a  barbarian  vessel,  5,000  taels.  The  inhabitants  of 
Tientsin  are  reputed  brave.  Let  them  now  come  forward  and 
rid  us  of  these  pestilential  savages,  either  by  open  attack  or  by 
artifice.  We  are  no  lovers  of  war,  but  all  our  people  must 
admit  that  this  has  been  forced  upon  us. 

"As  to  the  barbarians'  seizure  of  portions  of  our  territory 


THE  FLIGHT  TO  JEHOL  23 

in  Kuangtung  and  Fukhien,  all  our  subjects  are  alike  our 
children  and  we  will  issue  large  rewards  to  any  of  them  in 
the  south  who  shall  present  us  with  the  head  of  a  barbarian 
chief. 

"These  barbarians  live  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  earth, 
whence  they  come  to  China  for  purposes  of  trade.  Their  out- 
rageous proceedings  have,  we  understand,  been  encouraged 
by  abominable  traitors  among  our  own  subjects.  We  now 
command  that  all  the  Treaty  ports  be  closed  and  all  trade  with 
England  and  France  stopped.  Subjects  of  other  submissive 
States  are  not  to  be  molested,  and  whensoever  the  British  and 
French  repent  them  of  their  evil  ways  and  return  to  their 
allegiance,  we  shall  be  pleased  to  permit  them  to  trade  again, 
as  of  old,  so  that  our  clemency  may  be  made  manifest.  But 
should  they  persist  in  their  wicked  violation  of  every  right 
principle,  our  armies  must  mightily  smite  them,  and  pledge 
themselves  solemnly  to  destroy  utterly  these  evil-doers.  May 
they  repent  while  yet  there  is  time  !  " 

Three  days  later  Yehonala  was  present  at  the  morning 
audience,  when  the  Emperor  made  the  following  state- 
ment : — 

"We  learn  that  the  barbarians  continue  to  press  upon  our 
capital.  Their  demands  were  all  complied  with,  yet  they  insist 
upon  presenting  to  us  in  person  their  barbarous  documents  of 
credentials,  and  demand  that  Prince  Seng  shall  withdraw  his 
troops  from  Chang-Chia  wan.  Such  insolence  as  this  makes 
further  parley  impossible.  Prince  Seng  has  gained  one  great 
victory  already,  and  now  his  forces  are  holding  the  enemy  in 
check  at  Palich'iao." 

Orders  were  issued  that  the  landing  of  troops  from  the 
warships  which  had  appeared  off  Kinchou  should  be 
stoutly  resisted. 

On  the  7th  of  the  Moon  His  Majesty  sacrificed  at  the 
Temple  of  Confucius,  but  on  the  next  morning  he  was 
afraid  to  come  into  the  city  from  the  Summer  Palace, 
although  he  wished  to  sacrifice  to  the  tutelary  deities  and 
inform  them  of  his  intended  departure.  Early  on  the 
following  day  Prince  Kung  was  appointed  Plenipotentiary 
in  the  place  of  Prince  Yi  (Tsai  Yiian)  and  the  Emperor, 
despite  the  brave  wording  of  his  Decree,  fled  from  the 
capital,  after  making  obeisance  to  the  God  of  War  in  a 
small    temple   of    the    Palace   grounds.      In    the    Decree 


24    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

announcing  his  departure,  the  flight  was  described  as  an 
"autumn  tour  of  inspection."^ 

The  Court  started  in  utter  confusion,  but  proceeded  only 
some  eighteen  miles  on  the  road  northwards  from  Peking, 
stopping  for  the  first  night  in  a  small  temple.  Here  a 
Decree  was  issued  calling  upon  all  the  Manchurian  troops 
to  hasten  to  Jehol  for  the  protection  of  the  Court.  On  the 
evening  of  the  following  day  a  Memorial  was  received 
from  Prince  Kung,  reporting  on  the  latest  doings  of  the 
barbarians,  but  His  Majesty  ordered  him,  in  reply,  to  take 
whatever  steps  he  might  think  fit  to  deal  with  the  situation. 
It  was  out  of  the  question,  said  the  Rescript,  for  the 
Emperor  to  decide  on  any  course  of  action  at  a  distance  : 
in  other  words,  the  Throne  divested  itself  of  further 
responsibility. 

On  the  nth,  the  Court  lay  at  the  Imperial  hunting  lodge 
north  of  Mi-Yiin  hsien.  The  Chinese  chronicler  records 
that  the  Emperor  was  too  sick  to  receive  the  Grand  Council, 
and  delegated  his  duties  to  Yehonala,  who  thereupon  issued 
the  following  Decree  :  — 

"We  are  informed  that  the  pestilent  barbarians  are  pressing 
upon  our  capital,  and  our  Ministers  have  asked  us  to  summon 
reinforcements  from  the  provinces.  Now  the  highest  form  of 
military  art  is  to  effect  sudden  surprises,  carefully  pre- 
arranged. The  barbarians'  superiority  lies  in  their  firearms, 
but  if  we  can  only  bring  them  to  a  hand-to-hand  engagement 
they  will  be  unable  to  bring  their  artillery  to  bear,  and  thus 
shall  our  victory  be  assured.  The  Mongol  and  Manchu  horse- 
men are  quite  useless  for  this  kind  of  warfare,  but  the  men 
of  Hupei  and  Ssii-ch'uan  are  as  agile  as  monkeys  and  adepts 
at  the  use  of  cover  in  secret  approaches.  Let  them  but  surprise 
these  bandits  once,  and  their  rout  is  inevitable.  Therefore  let 
Tseng  Kuo-fan,  the  Commander-in-chief  of  Hukuang  forces, 
send  up  at  least  three  thousand  of  his  best  troops  to  Peking, 
and  let  as  many  be  despatched  from  SsQ-ch'uan.  Prince  Seng's 
troops  have  been  defeated  again  and  again,  and  the  capital  is 
in  great  danger.  At  such  a  crisis  as  this,  there  must  be  no 
delay ;  it  is  our  earnest  hope  that  a  sufficient  force  will  speedily 
be  collected,  so  that  we  may  be  rid  of  this  poisonous  fever-cloud. 
For  bravery  and  good  service,  there  will  be  great  rewards.  A 
most  important  Decree." 

^  The  same  euphemism  was  employed  to  describe  the  Court's  fliglit  ijo 
August  1900. 


THE  FLIGHT  TO  JEHOL  25 

At  the  Court's  halting  place  at  Pa-Ko  shih,  close  to  the 
Great  Wall,  a  Memorial  came  in  from  Prince  Seng  Ko 
Lin  Ch'in,  stating  that  small  scouting  parties  of  the  bar- 
barian troops  had  been  seen  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Peking,  but  that  as  yet  there  had  been  no  general  bombard- 
ment.    A  Rescript  was  issued  as  follows  :  — 

"  Inasmuch  as  it  would  appear  that  the  pertinacity  of  these 
barbarians  will  only  increase  with  opposition,  it  seems  desirable 
to  come  to  terms  with  them  as  soon  as  possible.  With 
reference  to  the  French  barbarian  Gros's  petition  to  be  per- 
mitted to  discuss  matters  with  Prince  Kung  in  person,  at 
Peking,  we  command  the  Prince  to  receive  him.  But  should 
the  bandits  attempt  to  approach  the  city  in  force,  Prince  Seng 
should  take  them  in  the  rear  and  cut  off  their  retreat.  If  by 
any  chance,  however,  Peking  should  be  already  taken,  let  the 
Mongol  regiments  be  sent  up  to  the  Great  Wall  for  the 
protection  of  our  person." 

After  a  leisurely  journey,  the  Court  reached  Jehol  on  the 
1 8th.  On  the  20th,  the  opinion  of  the  advisers  of  the 
Emperor  seemed  to  be  in  favour  of  continuing  the  war  at 
all  costs.  A  Decree  was  issued,  referring  to  the  fact  that 
the  foreign  troops  had  dared  to  encamp  near  the  Summer 
Palace,  and  forbidding  Prince  Kung  to  spare  the  lives  of 
any  captured  barbarians  upon  any  pretext  whatsoever.  To 
this  Prince  Kung  replied  stating  that  the  prisoners  had 
already  been  released  and  that  the  Anting  gate  had  been 
surrendered  to  the  foreigners.  Prince  Kung,  in  fact,  was 
statesman  enough  to  realise  that  the  only  chance  for  China 
lay  in  submission;  he  therefore  ignored  the  Imperial 
Decrees.  Before  long  the  Emperor  was  persuaded  to  allow 
negotiations  to  be  resumed,  and  on  the  15th  of  the  gth 
Moon  he  confirmed  the  Treaty,  which  had  been  signed  in 
Peking,  in  the  following  Edict :  — 

"Prince  Kung,  duly  appointed  by  us  to  be  Plenipotentiary, 
concluded,  on  the  nth  and  12th  days  of  this  Moon,  Treaties 
of  Peace  with  the  British  and  the  French.  Hereafter  amity 
is  to  exist  between  our  nations  in  perpetuity,  and  the  various 
conditions  of  the  Treaty  are  to  be  strictly  observed  by  all." 


Ill 

THE  TSAI   YUAN   CONSPIRACY 

It  was  originally  intended  that  the  Emperor  Hsien-Feng 
should  return  from  Jehol  to  Peking  in  the  spring  of  1861, 
and  a  Decree  was  issued  to  that  effect.  In  January,  how- 
ever, his  illness  had  become  so  serious  that  travelling  was 
out  of  the  question,  and  this  Decree  was  rescinded. 

At  Jehol,  removed  from  the  direct  influence  of  his 
brothers,  and  enfeebled  by  sickness,  the  Emperor  had 
gradually  fallen  under  the  domination  of  the  Prince  Yi  (Tsai 
Yiian),  with  whom  were  associated,  as  Grand  Councillors, 
the  Prince  Tuan  Hua  and  the  Imperial  Clansman  Su  Shun. 
These  three,  recognising  that  the  Emperor's  end  was  near 
and  that  a  Regency  would  be  necessary,  determined  on  se- 
curing the  power  for  themselves.  Prince  Yi  was  nominally 
the  leader  of  this  conspiracy,  but  its  instigator  and  leading 
spirit  was  Su  Shun.  Tuan  Hua,  whose  family  title  was 
Prince  Cheng,  was  the  head  of  one  of  the  eight  princely 
Manchu  families,  descended  in  the  direct  line  from  Nur- 
hachu's  brother.  Su  Shun  was  foster-brother  to  this  Prince. 
In  his  youth  he  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  capital, 
famous  for  his  Mohawk  tendencies,  a  wild  blade,  addicted 
to  hawking  and  riotous  living.  He  had  originally  been 
recommended  to  the  notice  of  the  Emperor  by  the  two 
Princes  and  soon  won  his  way  into  the  dissolute  monarch's 
confidence  and  goodwill.  From  a  junior  post  in  the  Board 
of  Revenue,  he  rose  rapidly,  becoming  eventually  an 
Assistant  Grand  Secretary,  in  which  capacity  he  attained 
an  unenviable  reputation  for  avarice  and  cruelty.  He 
had  made  himself  hated  and  feared  by  persuading  the 
Emperor  to  order  the  decapitation  of  his  chief,  the  Grand 
Secretary   Po   Sui,^   on   the   pretext   that   he   had   shown 

^  Pu  An,  uncle  of  Na  T'ung,  head  of  the  Foreign  Office  till  191 1,  was 
executed  at  the  same  time  for  assisting  Po  Sui  in  this  matter. 

26 


THE  TSAI  YUAN  CONSPIRACY  27 

favouritism  as  Chief  Examiner  for  the  Metropolitan 
Degree, — the  real  reason  being  that  he  had  offended  the 
two  Princes  by  his  uncompromising  honesty  and  blunt 
speech.  It  was  at  this  period  that  he  first  came  into  con- 
flict with  the  young  Yehonala,  who,  dreading  the  man's 
growing  influence  with  the  Emperor,  endeavoured  to 
counteract  it,  and  at  the  same  time  to  save  the  life  of  the 
Grand  Secretary;  she  failed  in  the  attempt,  and  Su  Shun's 
position  became  the  stronger  for  her  failure.  All  those  who 
opposed  him  were  speedily  banished  or  degraded.  The 
Court  was  terrified,  especially  when  it  was  realised  that 
Yehonala  was  out  of  favour,  and  Su  Shun  took  care  to 
give  them  real  and  frequent  cause  for  alarm.  At  his 
instance,  all  the  Secretaries  of  the  Board  of  Revenue  were 
cashiered  on  a  charge  of  making  illicit  profits  by  cornering 
the  cash  market.  The  charge  was  possibly  well-founded, 
since  such  proceedings  are  part  of  a  Metropolitan  officiars 
recognised  means  of  subsistence,  but  coming  from  the 
notoriously  corrupt  Su  Shun,  it  was  purely  vindictive,  as 
was  shown  by  his  subsequent  action ;  for  upon  this  charge 
he  obtained  the  arrest  of  over  a  hundred  notables  and  rich 
merchants  whom  he  kept  in  custody  of  no  gentle  kind  until 
they  had  ransomed  themselves  with  enormous  sums. 
Thus  was  founded  the  great  fortune  which  enabled  him  to 
conspire  with  the  Princes  Yi  and  Cheng  ^  for  the  supreme 
power,  and  which  led  him  eventually  to  his  ruin.  To  this 
day,  many  of  his  millions  lie  in  the  Palace  vaults,  to  which 
they  were  carried  after  his  impeachment  and  death — 
millions  carefully  hoarded  by  Tzu  Hsi  and  buried  during 
the  Court's  flight  and  exile  in  1900. 

It  was  chiefly  because  of  the  advice  of  Su  Shun  that  the 
Emperor  fled  his  capital  at  the  approach  of  the  Allies,  in 
spite  of  the  urgent  appeals  of  Yehonala  and  the  Grand 
Council.  By  his  advice  also  most  of  the  high  officials  and 
Metropolitan  Ministers  were  prevented  from  accompanying 
the  Court,  by  which  means  the  conspirators  were  able  to 
exercise  steadily  increasing  influence  over  the  Emperor,  and 

*  "  Yi "  and  "  Cheng  "  are  honorific  names,  meaning  respectively  "  har- 
monious" and  "sedate." 


28    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

to  prevent  other  advice  reaching  him.  It  was  only  the 
supreme  courage  and  intelligent  grasp  of  the  situation 
shown  by  Yehonala,  that  frustrated  the  conspiracy  at  its 
most  critical  moment.  Immediately  after  the  death  of  the 
Emperor,  and  while  the  plotters  were  still  undecided  as  to 
their  final  plans,  she  sent  an  urgent  message  secretly  to 
Prince  Kung  which  brought  him  with  all  speed  to  Jehol, 
where,  by  the  help  of  Jung  Lu  and  other  loyal  servants,  she 
put  into  execution  the  bold  plan  which  defeated  the  con- 
spiracy and  placed  her  at  the  head  of  China's  government. 
On  the  day  when,  the  game  hopelessly  lost,  the  usurping 
Regents  found  themselves  in  Yehonala's  hands  and  heard 
her  order  their  summary  trial  by  the  Court  of  the  Imperial 
Clan,  Su  Shun  turned  to  his  colleagues  and  bitterly  re- 
proached them.  *'  Had  you  but  taken  my  advice  and  slain 
this  woman,'*  he  said,  '*we  should  not  have  been  in  this 
plight  to-day." 

To  return,  however,  to  the  beginning  of  the  conspiracy. 
At  the  outset,  the  object  of  Prince  Yi  was  to  alienate  the 
Emperor  from  the  influence  of  his  favourite  concubine, 
Yehonala.  With  this  object  they  informed  him  of  the 
intrigue  which,  by  common  report,  she  was  carrying  on 
with  the  young  Officer  of  the  Guards,  Jung  Lu,  then  a 
handsome  athletic  man  of  about  twenty-five.  The  Empress 
Consort  they  regarded  as  a  negligible  factor,  whose  good- 
natured  and  colourless  personality  took  little  interest  in 
the  politics  of  the  day;  but  if  their  plot  was  to  succeed, 
Yehonala  must  either  be  dismissed  from  the  Court  for 
good  and  all,  or,  at  the  very  least,  she  must  be  temporarily 
relegated  to  the  "Cold  Palace,"  as  is  called  the  place  where 
insubordinate  or  disgraced  concubines  are  isolated.  They 
knew  that,  however  successful  their  plans  at  Jehol,  there 
must  always  be  danger  in  the  event  of  the  Emperor  return- 
ing to  Peking,  where  access  to  his  person  is  not  possible 
at  all  times  for  officials  (even  those  nearest  to  the  Throne), 
whereas  Yehonala  would  be  in  a  position,  with  the  help 
of  her  eunuchs,  to  recover  his  favour  and  her  power. 
Emphasising,  therefore,  the  alleged  misconduct  of  the 
young  cojacubine,  they  quoted  the  precedent  of  a  certain 


THE  TSAI  YUAN  CONSPIRACY  29 

Empress  Consort  of  Ch'ien-Lung  who,  for  less  grievous 
disrespect  (shown  to  the  Emperor's  motjier),  was  im- 
prisoned for  life.  Thus,  by  inventions  and  suggestions, 
they  so  worked  on  the  sick  man's  mind  that  he  finally 
consented  to  have  Yehonala's  infant  son,  the  Heir 
Apparent,  removed  from  her  care,  and  authorised  the 
child's  being  handed  over  to  the  wife  of  Prince  Yi,  who 
was  summoned  to  the  hunting-lodge  Palace  for  that  pur- 
pose. At  the  same  time,  the  conspirators  thought  it  well  to 
denounce  Prince  Kung  to  the  Emperor,  his  brother,  accusing 
him  of  treachery,  of  conniving  with  the  foreigners  against 
the  Throne,  and  of  abusing  his  powers  as  Plenipotentiary. 
Prince  Yi  had  been  for  years  Prince  Kung's  sworn  enemy. 

The  further  intentions  of  the  conspirators,  instigated  by 
Su  Shun,  were  to  massacre  all  Europeans  in  the  capital 
and  to  put  to  death,  or  at  least  imprison  for  life,  the 
Emperor's  brothers.  Accordingly  they  drafted  in  advance 
the  Decrees  necessary  to  justify  and  explain  these  measures, 
intending  to  publish  them  immediately  after  the  Emperor's 
death,  which  was  now  imminent.  But  here  an  unforeseen 
obstacle  presented  itself,  the  first  of  many  created  for  them 
by  the  far-seeing  intelligence  of  Yehonala ;  for  they  found 
that  she  had  somehow  managed  to  possess  herself  of  the 
special  seal,  which  inviolable  custom  requires  to  be  affixed 
to  the  first  Edict  of  a  new  reign,  in  proof  of  validity  of 
succession, — a  seal,  in  the  personal  custody  of  the  Emperor, 
which  bears  the  characters  meaning  "lawfully  transmitted 
authority."  Without  this  seal,  any  Decrees  which  the 
usurpers  might  issue  would  lack  something  of  legal  finality 
and,  according  to  Chinese  ideas,  their  subsequent  cancella- 
tion would  be  justifiable.  But  Prince  Yi  did  not  feel 
himself  strong  enough  to  risk  a  crisis  by  accusing  her  or 
taking  overt  steps  to  gain  possession  of  it. 

Angry  with  his  favourite  concubine  by  reason  of  the 
reports  of  her  intimacy  with  Jung  Lu,  and  his  sickness  ever 
increasing,  the  Emperor  lingered  on  in  Jehol  all  the  summer 
of  that  year,  his  duty  in  the  ancestral  sacrifices  at  Peking 
being  taken  by  Prince  Kung.  On  the  4th  of  the  6th  Moon, 
the  day  before  his  thirtieth  birthday,  he  issued  the  follow- 


30    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

ing  Decree  in  reply  to  a  Memorial  by  the  Court  of  Astro- 
nomers, which  had  announced  an  auspicious  conjunction 
of  the  stars  for  the  occasion  :  — 

"Last  month  the  Astronomers  announced  the  appearance 
of  a  comet  in  the  north-west,  which  intimation  we  received  as  a 
solemn  warning  of  the  impending-  wrath  of  Heaven.  Now  they 
memorialise  saying  that  the  stars  are  in  favourable  conjunction, 
which  is  doubtless  a  true  statement,  in  no  way  inspired  by  their 
desire  to  please  us.  But  since  we  came  to  the  Throne,  we  have 
steadily  refused  to  pay  any  attention  to  auspicious  omens,  and 
this  with  good  reason,  in  view  of  the  ever-increasing  rebellions 
in  the  south  and  the  generally  pitiable  condition  of  our  people. 
May  the  present  auspicious  conjunction  of  the  stars  portend  the 
dawning  of  a  happier  day,  and  may  heaven  permit  a  speedy  end 
to  the  rebellion.  In  token  of  our  sincerity,  we  desire  that  the 
Astronomical  Court  shall  refrain  from  reporting  to  the  Chroni- 
cler's Office  the  present  favourable  omen  for  inclusion  in  the 
annals  of  our  reign,  so  that  there  may  be  ascribed  to  us  the  merit 
of  a  devout  and  sober  mind." 

On  the  following  morning  the  Emperor  received  the 
congratulations  of  his  Court  in  a  pavilion  of  the  Palace 
grounds,  but  Yehonala  was  excluded  from  this  ceremony. 
This  was  His  Majesty's  last  appearance  in  public;  from 
this  date  his  illness  became  rapidly  worse. 

On  the  7th  of  the  7th  Moon,  Yehonala  contrived  to 
despatch  a  secret  courier  to  Prince  Kung  at  Peking, 
informing  him  of  the  critical  condition  of  his  brother  and 
urging  him  to  send  with  all  haste  a  detachment  of  the 
Banner  Corps  to  which  the  Yehonala  clan  belonged. 
Events  now  moved  swiftly.  On  the  i6th,  the  Grand  Coun- 
cillors and  Ministers  of  the  Presence,  all  adherents  of 
Tsai  Yiian's  faction,  entered  the  Emperor's  bedroom  and, 
after  excluding  the  Empress  Consort  and  the  concubines, 
persuaded  the  Emperor  to  sign  Decrees  appointing  Tsai 
Yiian,  Tuan  Hua  and  Su  Shun  to  be  Co-Regents  upon  his 
decease,  with  full  powers.  Yehonala  was  to  be  expressly 
forbidden  from  exercising  any  form  of  control  over  the 
Heir  Apparent.  As  the  necessary  seal  of  State  had  been 
taken  by  Yehonala  and  could  not  be  found,  these  proceed- 
ings were  irregular.  At  dawn  on  the  following  day  the 
Emperor  died,  and  forthwith  appeared  the  usual  valedictory 


THE  TSAI  YUAN  CONSPIRACY  31 

Decree,  prepared  in  advance  by  the  conspirators,  whereby 
Tsai  YUan  was  appointed  to  be  Chief  Regent,  Prince  Kung 
and  the  Empress  Consort  being  entirely  ignored. 

In  the  name  of  the  new  Emperor,  then  a  child  of  five,  a 
Decree  was  issued,  announcing  his  succession,  but  it  was 
observed  to  violate  all  constitutional  precedent  in  that  it 
omitted  the  proper  laudatory  references  to  the  Imperial 
Consort.  On  the  following  day,  however,  the  Regents, 
fearing  to  precipitate  matters,  rectified  the  omission  in  an 
Edict  which  conferred  the  rank  of  Empress  Dowager  both 
on  the  Empress  Consort  and  on  Yehonala.  The  chroniclers 
aver  that  the  reason  for  this  step  lay  in  the  Regents* 
recognition  of  Yehonala's  undoubted  popularity  with  the 
troops  (all  Manchus)  at  Jehol,  an  argument  that  weighed 
more  heavily  with  them  than  her  rights  as  mother  of  the 
Heir  Apparent.  They  hoped  to  rid  themselves  of  this 
condition  of  affairs  after  the  Court's  return  to  Peking,  but 
dared  not  risk  internal  dissensions  by  having  her  removed 
until  their  positions  had  been  made  secure  at  the  capital. 
That  they  intended  to  remove  her  was  subsequently  proved ; 
it  was  evident  that  their  position  would  never  be  secure  so 
long  as  her  ambitious  and  magnetic  personality  remained  a 
factor  of  the  situation  :  but  it  was  necessary,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  ascertain  the  effect  of  the  Regency  at  Peking 
and  in  the  provinces. 

Tsai  Yuan's  next  move  was  to  publish  Decrees,  in  the 
names  of  the  Joint  Regents,  by  virtue  of  which  they 
assumed  charge  of  the  Heir  Apparent  and  by  which  the 
title  of  '*  Chien  Kuo  "  (practically  equivalent  to  Dictator) 
was  conferred  on  the  Chief  Regent,  a  title  heretofore 
reserved  exclusively  for  brothers  or  uncles  of  the  Emperor. 

When  the  news  reached  Peking,  a  flood  of  Memorials 
burst  from  the  Censorate  and  high  officials.  The  child 
Emperor  was  implored  to  confer  the  Regency  upon  the 
two  Empresses,  or,  as  the  Chinese  text  has  it,  to  ''ad- 
minister the  Government  with  suspended  curtain."  ^   Prince 

^  The  expression  has  reference  to  the  fact  that  the  Empresses  Regent 
are  supposed  to  be  concealed  from  the  sight  of  Ministers  at  audience  by 
a  curtain  suspended  in  front  of  the  Throne. 


32    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

Kung  and  the  Emperor's  other  brothers  were  at  this  time 
in  secret  correspondence  with  Yehonala,  whom  they,  like 
the  Censorate,  had  already  recognised  as  the  master-mind 
of  the  Forbidden  City.  They  urged  her  to  do  all  in  her 
power  to  expedite  the  departure  of  the  funeral  cortege  for 
the  capital.  To  secure  this  end,  it  was  necessary  to 
proceed  with  the  greatest  caution  and  diplomacy,  for 
several  of  the  late  Emperor's  wives  had  been  won  over  to 
the  side  of  the  usurpers,  who  could  also  count  on  a  certain 
number  of  the  Manchu  bodyguard,  their  own  clansmen. 
The  influence  of  Su  Shun's  great  fortune  was  also  no 
inconsiderable  factor  in  the  situation.  The  man  was 
personally  unpopular  with  the  people  of  Peking,  because 
of  his  abuse  of  power  and  too  frequent  connection  with 
speculations  in  bank-note  issues  and  cash,  which  cost  the 
citizens  dear,  but  his  vaults  were  known  to  be  full  to  over- 
flowing, and  there  is  no  city  in  the  world  where  money 
buys  more  political  supporters  than  in  Peking.  Su  Shun's 
career  has  had  its  counterpart,  in  everything  except  its 
sanguinary  denouement,  in  the  capital  to-day. 

At  the  moment  the  position  of  the  Emperor's  family  was 
prejudiced,  and  the  aims  of  the  conspirators  assisted,  by  the 
political  situation.  With  the  capital  occupied  by  foreign 
troops,  and  many  of  the  provinces  in  the  throes  of  a  great 
rebellion,  the  people  might  be  expected  to  welcome  a 
change  of  rulers,  and  the  ripe  experience  of  the  usurping 
Regents  in  all  matters  of  State  was  undeniable.  But  the 
virile  and  untiring  energies  of  Yehonala,  ably  supported 
by  Jung  Lu  and  other  faithful  followers,  soon  put  a  new 
complexion  on  affairs,  and  the  situation  was  further  modi- 
fied in  her  favour  by  the  success  of  her  nominee,  the 
Commander-in-Chief,  Tseng  Kuo-fan,  in  capturing  the  city 
of  An-ch'ing  (in  Anhui)  from  the  rebels,  a  victory  that 
was  regarded  as  of  good  augury  to  her  cause.  Thereafter 
her  courage  and  diplomacy  enabled  her  to  play  off  one 
opponent  against  another,  gaining  time  and  friends  until 
the  conspirators'  chance  was  gone.  Her  own  aims  and 
ambitions,  which  had  been  voiced  by  her  friends  in  the 
Censorate,  were,  however,  to  some  extent  impeded  by  the 


Her  Majesty  Tzu  Hsi  in  the  Year  1933. 


«    e     o      e    o     c 


THE  TSAI  YUAN  CONSPIRACY  33 

fact  that  a  House-law  of  the  Dynasty  forbids  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Government  by  an  Empress  Dowager,  while 
there  were  quite  recent  precedents  for  a  Regency  by  a 
Board,  in  the  cases  of  the  Emperors  Shun-Chih  and  K'ang- 
Hsi.  In  neither  of  these  instances  had  the  Empress  Tai- 
Tsung  had  any  voice  in  the  Government.  The  precedent 
for  Boards  of  official  Regents  had,  however,  come  to  be 
recognised  as  inauspicious,  because  the  several  Regents 
of  K'ang-Hsi's  minority  had  either  been  banished  or  com- 
pelled to  commit  suicide.  It  is  probable,  too,  that  Prince 
Kung,  in  instigating  and  supporting  the  claims  of  the 
Empresses,  failed  to  appreciate  Yehonala's  strength  of 
character,  and  believed  that  a  woman's  Regency  would 
leave  the  supreme  power  in  his  own  hands. 

A  Manchu,  who  accompanied  the  flight  to  Jehol,  describ- 
ing his  experiences,  lays  stress  upon  Yehonala's  unfailing 
courage  and  personal  charm  of  manner,  to  which  was  due 
her  popularity  with  the  Imperial  Guards  and  her  eventual 
triumph.  At  the  most  critical  period  of  the  conspiracy  she 
was  careful  to  avoid  precipitating  a  conflict  or  arousing  the 
suspicions  of  the  usurpers  by  openly  conferring  with  Jung 
Lu,  and  she  employed  as  her  confidential  intermediary  the 
eunuch  An  Te-hai  (of  whom  more  will  be  heard  later). 
By  means  of  this  man  daily  reports  were  safely  despatched 
to  Prince  Kung  at  Peking,  and,  in  the  meanwhile,  Yehonala 
affected  an  attitude  of  calm  indifference,  treating  Prince  Yi 
with  a  studied  deference  which  lulled  his  suspicions. 

On  the  nth  of  the  8th  Moon,  the  Board  of  Regents, 
after  meeting  to  discuss  the  situation,  issued  a  Decree  con- 
demning in  strong  terms  a  proposal  put  forward  in  a 
Memorial  by  the  Censor,  Tung  Yiian-ch'un,  that  the  two 
Empresses  should  be  appointed  Co-Regents,  and  referring 
to  the  death-bed  Decree  of  the  late  Emperor  as  their  own 
warrant  of  authority.  At  the  same  time  they  announced, 
in  the  name  of  the  young  Emperor,  that  the  funeral  cortege 
would  start  on  its  journey  to  the  capital  on  the  second  day 
of  the  next  Moon.  This  was  the  step  for  which  Yehonala 
had  been  working  and  waiting.  As  Ministers  of  the 
Presence,  the  Regents  were  perforce  obliged  to  accompany 


34    CHINA  UNDER  THE   EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

the  coffin  throughout  the  entire  journey  (some  150  miles) 
to  the  capital,  and  the  great  weight  of  the  catafalque, 
borne  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  would  necessarily 
render  the  rate  of  progress  very  slow  through  the  stony 
defiles  of  the  hills.  Resting  places  would  have  to  be 
provided  at  stages  of  about  fifteen  miles  along  the  route 
to  shelter  the  Imperial  remains  and  the  attendant  officials 
by  night,  so  that  the  Regents  might  count  on  a  journey 
of  ten  days  at  least,  and  longer  in  the  event  of  bad  weather. 
To  the  Empresses,  the  slow  progress  of  the  cortege  was 
a  matter  of  vital  advantage,  inasmuch  as  they  were  not  to 
take  part  in  the  procession,  and,  travelling  ahead  of  it, 
could  reach  the  capital  in  five  days  with  swift  chair-bearers. 
Dynastic  custom  and  Court  etiquette  prescribe  that  upon 
the  departure  of  the  funeral  procession,  the  new  Emperor 
and  the  consorts  of  the  deceased  sovereign  should  offer 
prayers  and  libations,  and  should  then  press  on  so  as  to 
be  ready  to  perform  similar  acts  of  reverence  on  meeting 
the  cortege  at  its  destination.  Yehonala  thus  found  her- 
self in  a  position  of  great  strategic  advantage,  being 
enabled  to  reach  the  capital  well  in  advance  of  her  enemies, 
and  she  speedily  laid  her  plans  with  Prince  Kung  to  give 
them  a  warm  reception. 

Tsai  Yiian  and  his  colleagues  were  well  aware  that  they 
were  placed  at  grave  disadvantage  in  having  to  remain 
behind  the  young  Empress,  with  every  prospect  of  serious 
trouble  ahead;  they,  therefore,  decided  to  have  Yehonala 
and  the  Empress  Consort  assassinated  on  the  road,  and  to 
that  end  gave  orders  that  they  should  be  escorted  by  the 
Chief  Regent's  personal  bodyguard.  Had  it  not  been  for 
Jung  Lu,  who  got  wind  of  the  plot,  the  Dowagers  would 
assuredly  never  have  reached  the  capital  alive.  Acting 
with  the  promptitude  which  Yehonala  inspired,  he  deserted 
the  funeral  cortege  by  night  with  a  considerable  following 
of  his  own  men,  and  hastened  on  to  the  protection  of  the 
Empresses,  overtaking  them  before  they  reached  Ku-pei 
K'ou,  at  the  end  of  the  pass  from  the  plains  into  Mongolia, 
which  was  the  spot  where  the  assassination  was  to  have 
taken  place. 


THE  TSAI   YOAN  CONSPIRACY  35 

Heavy  rains  had  fallen  just  after  the  departure  of  the 
procession  from  Jehol.    The  roads  became  impassable,  and 
the  Empresses  were  compelled  to  seek  shelter  in  the  Long 
Mountain   gorge,   where  no  sort  of  accommodation   had 
been  provided.     The  cortege  was  then  ten  miles  in  their 
rear.     Yehonala,    mindful    ever   of   the   proprieties,    sent 
back  several  men  of  her  escort  with  a  dutiful  enquiry,  in 
the  name  of  her  colleague  and  herself,  as  to  the  safety  of 
the  Imperial  coffin.     The  reply,  in  the  form  of  an  Edict  by 
Prince  Yi  and  his  Co-Regents,  reported  that  the  catafalque 
had  reached  the  first  resting  place  in  safety;  whereupon 
Yehonala,  asserting  as  of  right  the  prerogatives  of  supreme 
authority,  donated  to  the  bearers  a  thousand  taels  from  her 
Privy    Purse    in    recognition   of   their   arduous    services. 
Prince  Yi,   knowing  full   well  that  his  own   danger  was 
increasing  every  hour,  and  would  continue  so  long  as  the 
Empresses  remained  free  to  work  against  him,  nevertheless 
played  bravely  the  part  prescribed  for  him,  conforming  in 
the  grand  manner  to  the  traditions  of  his  position.     He 
forwarded  a  Memorial  to  the  Empresses,  humbly  thanking 
them    for    their    solicitude    for    the    Emperor's    remains. 
Yehonala,  in  reply,  praised  him  for  his  faithful  devotion 
to  duty.     Thus,   on  the  road  to  Death,   they  played  at 
Etiquette.     Both  these  documents  are  filed  in  the  Dynastic 
records  and  afford   remarkable  evidence  of   the  supreme 
importance  which  Chinese  and  Manchus  alike  attach  to 
forms  and   the   written    word   even   at   the   most   critical 
moments.     Similar  instances  could  be  cited  at  the  height 
of  the  Boxer  chaos. 

The  rains  having  ceased,  the  Empresses  were  able  to 
proceed  on  their  journey,  and  having  come  safely  through 
the  hill  passes  under  Jung  Lu's  protection,  they  were  free 
from  further  danger  of  ambush.  They  reached  Peking  on 
the  29th  of  the  9th  Moon,  three  full  days'  journey  ahead  of 
the  procession.  Immediately  upon  their  arrival  a  secret 
Council  was  held,  at  which  were  present  the  Emperor's 
brothers,  together  with  the  Ministers  and  Imperial  clans- 
men known  to  be  loyal  to  their  cause.  Long  and  anxiously 
did  they  confer.     Although  the  Empress  Mother  was  in 


36    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

possession  of  the  seal  of  legitimate  succession,  there  was 
no  known  precedent  for  so  drastic  a  step  as  the  summary, 
and  possibly  violent,  arrest  of  high  officers  of  State  con- 
voying the  Imperial  coffin.  Such  a  course,  it  was  felt, 
would  be  regarded  as  disrespectful  to  the  late  Emperor 
and  an  inauspicious  opening  to  the  new  reign.  The  con- 
sensus of  opinion  was,  therefore,  on  the  side  of  slow  and 
cautious  measures,  and  it  was  decided  thus  to  proceed, 
conforming  to  all  the  outward  observances  of  dynastic 
tradition.  The  coffin  once  arrived,  the  first  step  would 
be  to  deprive  the  Regents  of  their  usurped  authority;  the 
rest  would  follow. 

The  cortege  was  due  to  arrive  at  the  north-west  gate 
of  the  city  on  the  morning  of  the  2nd  of  the  loth  Moon, 
and  on  the  previous  evening  Prince  Kung  posted  a  large 
force  of  troops  at  this  point  to  prevent  any  attempt  at  a 
coup  de  main  by  Tsai  Yiian's  followers.  The  boy 
Emperor,  accompanied  by  the  Empresses  Dowager,  came 
out  to  meet  the  coffin  as  it  approached  the  city,  and  with 
him  were  the  late  Emperor's  brothers  and  a  great  following 
of  officials.  As  the  catafalque  passed  through  the  gate, 
the  Imperial  party  knelt  and  performed  the  prescribed 
acts  of  reverence.  Before  the  coffin  came  the  Imperial 
insignia,  and  behind  it  a  large  body  of  Manchu  cavalry. 
Prince  Yi  and  his  Co-Regents,  having  performed  their 
duty  in  bringing  the  coffin  safely  to  the  city,  next  pro- 
ceeded, as  required  by  custom,  to  make  formal  report  in 
person  to  the  young  Emperor,  upon  fulfilment  of  their 
charge.  For  this  purpose  they  were  received  in  a  large 
marquee  erected  just  inside  the  city  gate.  Both  Empresses 
were  present,  together  with  the  late  Emperor's  brothers 
and  the  Grand  Secretaries  Kuei  Liang  and  Chou 
Tsu-p*ei. 

Yehonala,  calmly  assuming,  as  was  her  wont,  the  prin- 
cipal role  and  all  attributes  of  authority,  opened  the  pro- 
ceedings by  informing  Prince  Yi  that  the  Empress  Consort 
and  she  herself  were  grateful  to  him  and  to  his  colleagues 
for  the  services  which  they  had  rendered  as  Regents  and 
Grand  Councillors,  of  which  duties  they  were  now  relieved. 


THE  TSAI   YOAN  CONSPIRACY  37 

Prince  Yi,  putting  a  bold  face  on  it,  replied  that  he  himself 
was  Chief  Regent,  legally  appointed,  that  the  Empresses 
had  no  power  to  divest  him  of  authority  properly  con- 
ferred by  the  late  Emperor,  and  that,  during  the  minority 
of  the  new  Emperor,  neither  she  herself  nor  any  other 
person  was  entitled  to  attend  audience  without  his  express 
permission. 

"  We  shall  see  about  that,"  said  Yehonala,  and  forthwith 
gave  orders  to  the  attendant  guards  to  place  the  three 
Regents  under  arrest.  The  Imperial  party  then  hastened 
to  the  Palace  to  be  ready  to  meet  the  coffin  upon  its  arrival 
at  the  main  entrance  to  the  Forbidden  City,  for,  however 
acute  the  crisis,  the  dead  take  precedence  of  the  living 
in  China.  The  deposed  Regents  quietly  followed.  All 
hope  of  escape  or  resistance  was  out  of  the  question,  for 
the  streets  were  lined  with  troops  faithful  to  Yehonala*s 
cause.  Her  triumph  was  complete,  essentially  a  triumph 
of  mind  over  matter.  It  was  her  first  taste  of  the  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  supreme  power. 

Forthwith  the  Empresses  proceeded  to  regularise  their 
position  by  issuing  a  Decree,  under  the  Great  Seal  of 
*' Lawfully  transmitted  authority,"  in  which  the  conspira- 
tors and  those  found  on  the  Grand  Council  were  cashiered 
and  ordered  to  await  the  determination  of  their  punish- 
ment. Thereafter,  in  their  capacity  as  Joint  Regents,  the 
Empresses  duly  performed  the  proper  obeisances  to  the 
Imperial  coffin  at  the  eastern  gate  of  the  Palace,  escorting 
it  thence  to  its  temporary  resting  place  in  the  central 
Throne  Hall. 

In  the  security  of  Peking,  and  confident  of  the  devotion 
of  the  troops,  Yehonala  now  proceeded  to  act  more  boldly. 
She  issued  a  second  Decree  in  her  own  name  and  that  of  the 
Empress  Consort,  ordering  that  the  three  principal  con- 
spirators be  handed  over  to  the  Imperial  Clansmen's  Court 
for  the  determination  of  a  severe  penalty.  Pending  the 
investigation,  which  was  to  be  carried  out  under  the 
Presidency  of  Prince  Kung,  they  were  to  be  stripped  of 
all  their  titles  and  rank.  The  vindictive  autocrat  of  the 
years  to  come  speaks  for  the  first  time  in  this  Edict. 


38    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

"Their  audacity  in  questioning  our  right  to  give  audience  to 
Prince  Kung  this  morning  shows  a  degree  of  wickedness  in- 
conceivable, and  convicts  them  of  the  darkest  designs.  The 
punishment  so  far  meted  out  to  them  is  totally  inadequate  to 
the  depth  of  their  guilt." 

Against  Su  Shun,  in  particular,  the  Empresses  wrath 
burned  fiercely.  His  wife  had  insulted  her  in  the  days 
of  her  disgrace  at  Jehol,  and  Yehonala  had  ever  a  good 
memory  for  insults.  Next  morning  she  issued  the  follow- 
ing Decree  for  his  especial  benefit:  — 

"Because  of  Su  Shun's  high  treason,  his  wanton  unsurpation 
of  authority,  his  acceptance  of  bribes  and  generally  unspeakable 
wickedness,  we  commanded  that  he  be  degraded  and  arrested 
by  the  Imperial  Clansmen's  Court.  But  on  receipt  of  the  Decree, 
Su  Shun  dared  to  make  use  of  blasphemous  language  in  regard 
to  ourselves,  forgetful  of  the  inviolable  relation  between  Sover- 
eign and  subject.  Our  hair  stands  on  end  with  horror  at  such 
abominable  treason.  Moreover  he  has  dared  to  allow  his  wife 
and  family  to  accompany  him,  when  on  duty  accompanying  the 
Imperial  coffin  from  Jehol,  which  is  a  most  disgraceful  violation 
of  all  precedent.^  The  whole  of  his  property,  both  at  Peking 
and  at  Jehol,  is  therefore  confiscated,  and  no  mercy  shall  be 
shown  him." 

As  Su  Shun*s  property  was  worth  several  millions 
sterling  at  the  lowest  estimate,  the  Empress  Dowager  thus 
acquired  at  one  stroke  the  sinews  of  war  and  a  substantial 
nucleus  for  that  treasure  hoard  which  henceforward  was  to 
be  one  of  the  main  objects  of  her  ambition,  and  a  chief 
source  of  her  power.  During  the  present  Dynasty  there 
is  a  record  of  one  official  wealthier  than  Su  Shun,  namely 
Ho  Shen,  a  Grand  Secretary  under  Ch'ien  Lung,  whose 
property  was  similarly  confiscated  by  that  Emperor's 
successor. 

But  Yehonala's  lust  of  vengeance  was  not  yet  appeased. 
Her  next  Decree,  issued  on  the  following  day,  gives 
evidence  of  that  acquisitive  faculty,  that  tendency  to 
accumulate  property  and  to  safeguard  it  with  housewifely 
thrift,  which  distinguished  her  to  the  end:  — 

1  To  allow  women  privily  to  accompany  the  Imperial  cortege  is  a  crime 
punishable  by  law  with  the  penalty  of  the  lingering  death. 


THE  TSAI  YUAN  CONSPIRACY  39 

"Su  Shun  was  erecting  for  himself  a  Palace  at  Jehol,  which 
is  not  yet  completed.  Doubtless  he  has  vast  stores  of  treasure 
there.  Doubtless  also  he  has  buried  large  sums  of  gold  and 
silver  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  his  Jehol  residenoe,  in 
anticipation  of  the  possible  discovery  of  his  crimes.  Let  all 
his  property  in  Jehol  be  carefully  inventoried,  when  a  Decree 
will  be  issued  as  to  its  disposal.  Let  all  his  property  be  carefully 
searched  for  treasure,  to  be  handed  over  when  found.  Any 
attempt  at  concealment  by  the  Jehol  authorities  will  entail  upon 
them  the  same  punishment  as  that  which  is  to  be  inflicted  upon 
Su  Shun." 

On  the  6th  of  the  loth  Moon,  Prince  Kung  and  the 
Imperial  Commission  sent  in  their  report  on  the  quite  per- 
functory enquiry  into  the  charges  against  Tsai  Yiian  and 
the  other  conspirators.  In  the  Decree  which  followed  upon 
this  Report,  the  offenders  were  finally  disposed  of,  Tsai 
Yiian  and  Tuan  Hua  being  graciously  permitted  to 
commit  suicide,  and  Su  Shun  being  sentenced  to 
decapitation. 


IV 

THE  FIRST  REGENCY 

Although  the  collapse  of  the  Tsai  Yiian  conspiracy, 
and  the  stern  justice  administered  to  its  leaders,  rendered 
Yehonala's  position  secure  and  made  her  de  facto  ruler  of 
the  Empire  (for  her  colleague  was,  politically  speaking, 
a  negligible  quantity,  or  nearly  so),  she  was  extremely 
careful,  during  the  first  years  of  the  Regency,  to  avoid  all 
conspicuous  assumption  of  power  and  to  keep  herself  and 
her  ambitions  in  the  background,  while  she  omitted  no 
opportunity  of  improving  her  knowledge  of  the  art  of 
government  and  of  gaining  the  support  of  China's  leading 
officials.  For  this  reason  all  the  Decrees  of  this  period 
are  issued  in  the  name  of  the  Emperor,  and  Tzu  Hsi's 
assumption  of  authority  was  even  less  conspicuous  than 
during  her  period  of  retirement  at  the  Summer  Palace  after 
the  conclusion  of  Kuang-Hsii's  minority.  The  first  Re- 
gency (1861-1873)  may  be  described  as  Tzu  Hsi's  tentative 
period  of  rule,  in  which  she  tasted  the  sweets,  while  avoid- 
ing the  appearance,  of  power.  During  the  second  Regency 
( 1 875-1 889),  while  her  name  appeared  only  occasionally  as 
the  author  of  Imperial  Decrees,  she  was  careful  to  keep  in 
her  hands  all  official  appointments,  the  granting  of  rewards 
and  punishments  and  other  matters  of  internal  politics  cal- 
culated to  increase  her  personal  popularity  and  prestige 
with  the  mandarinate.  The  ''  curtain  was  not  suspended  " 
during  Kuang-Hsii's  minority,  as  he  was  the  nominee  of 
the  Empresses,  whereas  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih  held  his 
mandate  direct  from  the  late  Emperor,  his  father.  It  was 
not  until  the  final  Regency  (1898- 1908),  which  was  not  a 
Regency  at  all  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  ^ord  but  an 
usurpation  of  the  Imperial  prerogative  during  the  life- 
time of  the  sovereign,  that,  assured  of  the  strength  of  her 

40 


THE  FIRST  REGENCY  41 

position,  she  gave  full  rein  to  her  love  of  power  and,  with 
something  of  the  contempt  which  springs  from  long 
familiarity,  took  unto  herself  all  the  outward  and  visible 
signs  of  Imperial  authority,  holding  audience  daily  in  the 
Great  Hall  of  the  Palace,  seated  on  the  Dragon  Throne, 
with  the  puppet  Emperor  relegated  to  a  position  of  in- 
feriority, recognised  and  acclaimed  as  the  Old  Buddha,  the 
sole  and  undisputed  ruler  of  the  Empire. 

At  the  outset  of  her  career,  she  appears  to  have  realised 
that  the  idea  of  female  rulers  had  never  been  popular  with 
the  Chinese  people;  that  even  the  Empress  Wu  of  the 
eighth  century,  the  greatest  woman  in  Chinese  history, 
was  regarded  as  a  usurper.  She  was  aware  that  the 
Empress  Lli  (whose  character,  as  described  by  historians, 
was  not  unlike  her  own),  to  whom  was  due  the  con- 
solidation of  power  that  marked  the  rise  of  the  Han  Dy- 
nasty, enjoys  but  scant  respect  from  posterity.  On  the 
other  hand,  she  knew — for  the  study  of  history  was  her 
pastime — that  the  Empresses  Dowagers  of  the  past  had 
often  wielded  supreme  power  in  the  State,  principles  and 
precedents  notwithstanding,  and  their  example  she  de- 
termined to  follow.  Upon  the  taking  off  of  the  three  chief 
conspirators,  the  Censors  and  Ministers  urged  her  to  deal 
in  similar  drastic  fashion  with  their  aiders  and  abettors, 
and  Prince  Kung  was  anxious,  if  not  for  revenge,  at  least 
for  precautions  being  taken  against  those  who  had  had  the 
ear  of  the  late  Emperor  during  the  last  months  of  his  reign. 
But  Yehonala  showed  statesmanlike  forbearance :  early 
in  life  she  realised  that  a  few  victims  are  better  than  many, 
and  that  lives  spared  often  mean  whole  families  of  friends. 
After  cashiering  Prince  Yi's  remaining  colleagues  of  the 
Grand  Council,  she  dealt  leniently  with  other  offenders. 
When,  for  instance,  Ch'en  Tu-en,  President  of  the  Board 
of  Civil  appointments,  was  impeached  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  he  who  had  first  persuaded  the  Emperor  to  flee  to 
Jehol  against  her  advice,  and  that,  after  the  Emperor's 
death,  he  alone  of  all  the  high  officials  at  the  capital  had 
been  summoned  to  Jehol  by  the  usurping  Regents,  she 
contented  herself    with  removing  him  from  office,  though 


42    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

his  guilt  was  clearly  proved.  Another  official,  a  Minister 
of  the  Household,  who  had  endeavoured  to  further  the  aims 
of  the  conspirators,  by  dissuading  Hsien  Feng  from 
returning  to  Peking  in  the  spring  of  1861,  on  the  plea 
that  an  insurrection  was  impending,  was  also  cashiered. 
But  there  was  nothing  in  the  nature  of  a  general  pro- 
scription, in  spite  of  the  pecuniary  and  other  advantages 
which  usually  commend  retaliation  to  the  party  in  power 
at  Peking.  In  an  able  Decree,  Tzu  Hsi  let  it  be  under- 
stood that  she  wished  to  punish  a  few  only,  and  those 
chiefly  pour  encourager  les  autres.  It  was  always  a 
characteristic  of  hers  that,  when  her  ends  were  safely 
secured,  she  adopted  a  policy  of  watchful  leniency : 
moderata  durante  In  this  instance  she  was  fully  aware  of 
the  fact  that  Tsai  Yiian  and  his  colleagues  would  never 
have  had  the  opportunities,  nor  the  courage,  to  conspire 
for  the  Regency,  had  they  not  been  assured  of  the  sym- 
pathy and  support  of  many  of  the  higher  officials,  but  she 
preferred  to  let  the  iron  hand  rest  in  its  velvet  glove  unless 
openly  thwarted.  She  would  have  no  proscriptions,  no 
wreaking  of  private  grudges  and  revenges.  It  was  this 
characteristic  of  hers  that,  as  will  be  seen  in  another  place, 
obtained  for  her,  amongst  the  people  of  Peking  in  par- 
ticular, a  reputation  for  almost  quixotic  gentleness,  a 
reputation  which  we  find  expressed  in  frequent  references 
to  the  "Benign  Countenance,"  or  "Benevolent  Mother," 
and  which  undoubtly  represented  certain  genuine  impulses 
in  her  complex  nature.  So,  having  crushed  the  conspiracy, 
she  contented  herself  with  exhorting  all  concerned  to 
"attend  henceforth  strictly  to  their  duty,  avoiding  those 
sycophantic  and  evil  tendencies  which  had  brought  Ch'en 
Tu-en  and  Huang  Tsung-han  to  their  disgrace."  In 
another  Decree  she  emphasised  the  principle  that  sins  of 
omission  are  not  much  less  grave  than  overt  acts,  roundly 
censuring  the  Princes  and  Ministers  of  her  Government 
for  having  failed  to  denounce  the  conspirators  at  once, 
and  charging  them  with  cowardice.  It  was  fear  and 
nothing  else,  she  said,  that  had  prevented  them  from  re- 
vealing  the   truth;   and   then,    with    one   of   those   na'ive 


r  ^^L^- 


Photo,  Ogawa,  Tokio. 

Exterior  of  the  Ch'ien  Ch'ing  Palace. 


«      (       t      <-    fc  »      o 

c  c       c      c  c    c     c 
c         c     &       c        < 


c   c   c      c      (c 


THE  FIRST  REGENCY  43 

touches  which  make  Chinese  Edicts  a  perpetual  feast,  she 
added  that,  should  there  be  any  further  plots  of  usurpers, 
she  would  expect  to  be  informed  of  their  proceedings 
without  delay.  Above  all,  she  bade  the  Imperial  Clan 
take  warning  by  the  fate  of  the  three  conspirators,  and 
intimated  that  any  further  attempts  of  this  kind  would  be 
far  more  severely  dealt  with. 

One  of  the  first  steps  of  the  Regency  was  to  determine 
the  title  of  the  new  reign.  The  usurping  Princes  had 
selected  the  characters  "Ch'i-Hsiang,"  meaning  well- 
omened  happiness,"  but  to  Yehonala's  scholarly  taste  and 
fine  sense  of  fitness,  the  title  seemed  ill-chosen  and  re- 
dundant, and  as  she  wished  to  obliterate  all  memory  of  the 
usurpers'  regime,  she  chose  in  its  place  the  characters 
"T'ung-Chih,"  meaning  '* Joint  Rule,"  in  allusion  to  the 
double  regency,  in  order  to  emphasise  her  own  share  in 
the  government.  As  far  as  all  good  augury  for  the 
Emperor  himself  was  concerned,  one  title  was,  as  events 
proved,  no  more  likely  to  be  effective  than  the  other. 

On  the  same  day  as  the  proclamation  of  the  new  reign 
was  made  by  Edict,  the  Empresses  Dowager  issued  a 
Decree  explaining,  and  ostensibly  deprecating,  the  high 
honour  thrust  upon  them. 

"Our  assumption  of  the  Regency  was  utterly  contrary  to  our 
wishes,  but  we  have  complied  with  the  urgent  request  of  our 
Princes  and  Ministers,  because  we  realise  that  it  is  essential 
that  there  should  be  a  higher  authority  to  whom  they  may  refer. 
So  soon  as  ever  the  Emperor  shall  have  completed  his  education, 
we  shall  take  no  further  part  in  the  Government,  which  will  then 
naturally  revert  to  the  system  prescribed  by  all  dynastic  tradition. 
Our  sincere  reluctance  in  assuming  the  direction  of  affairs  must 
be  manifest  to  all.  Our  officials  are  expected  loyally  to  assist 
us  in  the  arduous  task  which  we  have  undertaken." 

Following  upon  this,  a  Decree  was  issued  in  the  name  of 
the  Emperor,  which  represented  the  boy  as  thanking  their 
Majesties  the  Regents  and  promising  that,  so  soon  as  he 
came  of  age,  he  would  endeavour,  by  dutiful  ministrations, 
to  prove  his  gratitude. 

For  the  procedure  of  Government  it  was  then  arranged 


44    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

that  the  Empresses  should  daily  hold  joint  audiences  in  the 
side  Hall  of  the  main  Palace.  At  these,  and  at  all  except 
the  great  Court  ceremonies,  the  Emperor's  great-uncle  and 
four  brothers  were  excused  from  performing  the  "kotow," 
the  Emperor's  respect  for  the  senior  generation  being  thus 
indirectly  exhibited. 

Upon  their  acceptance  of  the  Regency,  honorific  titles 
were  conferred  upon  both  Empresses.  Each  character  in 
these  titles  represents  a  grant  from  the  public  funds  of 
100,000  taels  per  annum  (say,  at  that  time,  ;^20,ooo).  Thus 
the  Empress  Consort  became  known  by  the  title  of  Tzu  An 
(Motherly  and  Restful)  while  Yehonala  became  Tzu  Hsi 
(Motherly  and  Auspicious),  one  being  the  Empress  of  the 
Eastern,  and  the  other  of  the  Western  Palace.  At  various 
subsequent  periods,  further  honorific  characters,  in  pairs, 
were  added  unto  them,  so  that,  on  her  seventieth  birthday, 
Tzu  Hsi  was  the  proud  possessor  of  sixteen.  On  that 
occasion  she  modestly  and  virtuously  refused  the  four 
additional  characters  with  which  the  Emperor  Kuang-Hsu 
(not  unprompted)  desired  to  honour  her.  Tzu  An  lived  to 
receive  ten  in  all ;  both  ladies  received  two  on  their  thirtieth 
birthdays,  two  on  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih's  accession, 
two  just  before  his  death  in  recognition  of  their  "ministra- 
tions "  during  his  attack  of  small-pox,  and  two  on  their 
fortieth  birthdays.  Tzu  Hsi  received  two  more  on  her 
fiftieth  birthday,  two  on  Kuang-Hsii's  marriage,  and  two 
on  her  sixtieth  birthday.  Tzu  Hsi's  complete  official 
designation  at  the  end  of  her  life  was  not  easy  to  remember. 
It  ran,  "Tzu-Hsi-Tuan-yu-K'ang-yi-Chao-yii-Chuang- 
ch'eng-Shou-kung-Ch'in-hsien-Ch'ung-hsi-  Huang  Tai- 
hou,"  which,  being  translated,  means  "The  Empress 
Dowager,  motherly,  auspicious,  orthodox,  heaven-blessed, 
prosperous,  all-nourishing,  brightly  manifest,  calm,  sedate, 
perfect,  long-lived,  respectful,  reverend,  worshipful,  illus- 
trious and  exalted." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Regency  it  suited  Yehonala  to 
conciliate  and  humour  Prince  Kung.  In  conjunction  with 
her  colleague,  she  therefore  bestowed  upon  him  the  titles 
of  "I-Cheng  Wang,"  or  Prince  Adviser  to  the  Govern- 


THE  FIRST  REGENCY  45 

ment,  and  by  special  Decree  she  made  the  title  of  *'Ch*in 
Wang,"  or  Prince  of  the  Blood  (which  had  been  bestowed 
upon  him  by  the  late  Emperor),  hereditary  in  his  family 
for  ever.^  Prince  Kung  begged  to  be  excused  from  accept- 
ing the  former  honour,  whereupon  ensued  a  solemn  parade 
of  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  Empresses,  one  of  whom,  as 
events  proved,  certainly  wanted  no  adviser.  Eventually, 
after  much  deprecation,  their  Majesties  gave  way  as 
regards  the  hereditary  title,  but  on  the  understanding  that 
the  offer  would  be  renewed  at  a  more  fitting  season. 
Yehonala  who,  in  her  better  moments  of  grateful  memory, 
could  scarcely  forget  the  brave  part  which  Prince  Kung 
had  played  for  her  at  Jehol,  made  amends  by  adopting 
his  daughter  as  a  Princess  Imperial,  granting  her  the  use 
of  the  Yellow  palanquin.  The  influence  of  this  Princess 
over  Tzu  Hsi,  especially  towards  the  end,  was  great,  and 
it  was  strikingly  displayed  in  igoo  on  behalf  of  Prince 
Tuan  and  the  Boxer  leaders. 

Ignorant  at  the  outset  of  many  things  in  the  procedure  of 
Government  routine,  feeling  her  way  through  the  labyrinth 
of  party  politics  and  foreign  affairs,  afraid  of  her  own  youth 
and  inexperience,  it  was  but  natural  that  Tzu  Hsi  should 
have  recourse  to  the  ripe  wisdom  of  the  late  Emperor's 
brother  and  be  guided  by  his  opinion.  But  as  time  went 
on,  as  her  knowledge  of  affairs  broadened  and  deepened, 
her  autocratic  instincts  gradually  asserted  themselves  in  an 
increasing  impatience  of  advice  and  restraint.  As,  by  the 
study  of  history  and  the  light  of  her  own  intelligence,  she 
gained  confidence  in  the  handling  of  State  business  and 
men,  the  guidance  which  had  previously  been  welcome 
became  distasteful,  and  eventually  assumed  the  character  of 
interference.  Despotic  by  nature,  Tzu  Hsi  was  not  the 
woman  to  tolerate  interference  in  any  matter  where  her  own 
mind  was  made  up,  and  Pr  nee  Kung,  on  his  side,  was  of 
a  disposition  little  less  proud  and  independent  than  her 
own.  When  the  young  Yehonala  began  to  evince  a  dis- 
position to  dispense  with  his  advice,  he  was  therefore  not 
inclined  to  conceal  his  displeasure,  and  relations  speedily 

^  Hereditary  titles  in  China  usually  descend  in  a  diminishing  scale. 


46    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

became  strained.  As  Tzu  Hsi  was  at  no  pains  to  hide  her 
resentment,  he  gradually  came  to  adopt  a  policy  of  insti- 
gating her  colleague,  the  Empress  of  the  East,  to  a  more 
independent  attitude,  a  line  of  action  which  could  not  fail 
to  produce  ill-feeling  and  friction  in  the  Palace.  In  the 
appointment  of  officials,  also,  which  is  the  chief  object  and 
privilege  of  power  in  China,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  promot- 
ing and  protecting  his  own  nominees  without  reference  to 
Yehonala,  by  direct  communications  to  the  provinces. 
Eye-witnesses  of  the  events  of  the  period  have  recorded 
their  impression  that  his  attitude  towards  both  Empresses 
at  the  commencement  of  the  Regency  was  somewhat  over- 
bearing ;  that  he  was  inclined  to  presume  upon  the  import- 
ance of  his  own  position  and  services,  and  that  on  one 
occasion  at  audience,  he  even  presumed  to  inform  the 
Empresses  that  they  owed  their  position  to  himself,  a 
remark  which  Tzu  Hsi  was  not  likely  to  forget  or  forgive. 
At  the  audiences  of  the  Grand  Council,  it  was  the  custom 
for  the  two  Empresses  to  sit  on  a  raised  dais,  each  on  her 
separate  Throne,  immediately  in  front  of  which  was  sus- 
pended a  yellow  silk  curtain ;  they  were  therefore  invisible 
to  the  Councillors,  who  were  received  separately  and  in  the 
order  of  their  seniority.  Prince  Kung  coming  first  in  his 
capacity  as  "  adviser  to  the  Government."  Beside  their  Majes- 
ties on  the  dais,  contrary  to  dynastic  house-law,  stood  their 
attendant  eunuchs;  they  were  in  the  habit  of  peeping  through 
the  folds  of  the  curtain,  keeping  a  careful  eye  upon  the  de- 
meanour of  the  officials  in  audience,  with  a  view  to  noting 
any  signs  of  disrespect  or  breach  of  etiquette.  Strictly  speak- 
ing, no  official,  however  high  his  rank,  might  enter  the 
Throne  room  unless  summoned  by  the  chief  eunuch  in  at- 
tendance, but  Prince  Kung  considered  himself  superior  to 
such  rules,  and  would  enter  unannounced.  Other  breaches  of 
etiquette  he  committed  which,  as  Her  Majesty's  knowledge 
of  affairs  increased,  were  carefully  noted  against  him ;  for 
instance,  he  would  raise  his  voice  when  replying  to  their 
Majesties'  instructions  (which  were  always  given  by  Tzu 
Hsi),  and  on  one  occasion,  he  even  ventured  to  ask  that 
Tzu  Hsi  should  repeat  something  she  had  just  said,  and 


THE  FIRST  REGENCY  47 

which  he  pretended  not  to  have  understood.  His  attitude, 
in  short  (say  the  chroniclers),  implied  an  assumption  of 
equality  which  the  proud  spirit  of  the  young  Empress 
would  not  brook.  Living  outside  the  Palace  as  he  did, 
having  free  intercourse  with  Chinese  and  foreign  officials 
on  all  sides,  he  was  naturally  in  a  position  to  intrigue 
against  her,  did  he  so  desire.  Tzu  Hsi,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  likely  to  imagine  and  exaggerate  intrigues,  since  nearly 
all  her  information  came  from  the  eunuchs  and  would 
therefore  naturally  assume  alarming  proportions.  There 
is  little  doubt  that  she  gradually  came  to  believe  in  the 
possibility  of  Prince  Kung  working  against  her  authority, 
and  she  therefore  set  herself  to  prove  to  him  that  his 
position  and  prerogatives  depended  entirely  upon  her 
good  will. 

She  continued  watching  her  opportunity  and  patiently 
biding  her  time  until  the  occasion  presented  itself  in  the 
fourth  year  of  the  Regency  (April,  1865).  In  a  moment 
of  absent-mindedness  or  bravado,  Prince  Kung  ventured  to 
rise  from  his  knees  during  an  audience,  thus  violating  a 
fundamental  rule  of  etiquette  originally  instituted  to  guard 
the  Sovereign  against  any  sudden  attack.  The  eunuchs 
promptly  informed  their  Majesties,  whereupon  Tzu  Hsi 
called  loudly  for  help,  exclaiming  that  the  Prince  was 
plotting  some  evil  treachery  against  the  persons  of  the 
Regents.  The  Guards  rushed  in,  and  Prince  Kung  was 
ordered  to  leave  the  presence  at  once.  His  departure  was 
speedily  followed  by  the  issue  of  an  Imperial  Decree, 
stating  that  he  had  endeavoured  to  usurp  the  authority  of 
the  Throne  and  persistently  overrated  his  own  importance 
to  the  State.  He  was  accordingly  dismissed  from  his 
position  as  adviser  to  the  Government,  relieved  of  his  duties 
on  the  Grand  Council  and  other  high  offices  in  the  Palace ; 
even  his  appointment  as  head  of  the  Foreign  Office,  or 
Tsungli  Yamen,  was  cancelled.  "He  had  shown  himself 
unworthy  of  their  Majesties*  confidence,"  said  the  Edict, 
"and  had  displayed  gross  nepotism  in  the  appointment 
of  high  officials :  his  rebellious  and  usurping  tendencies 
must  be  sternly  checked." 


48    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

A  month  later,  however,  Tzu  Hsi,  reaHsing  that  her 
own  position  was  not  unassailable,  and  that  her  treatment 
of  this  powerful  Prince  had  created  much  unfavourable 
comment  at  Court  and  in  the  provinces,  saved  her  face  and 
the  situation  simultaneously,  by  issuing  a  Decree  in  the 
name  of  herself  and  her  colleague,  which  she  described  as 
a  Decree  of  explanation.  In  this  document  she  took  no 
small  credit  to  herself  for  strength  of  character  and  virtue 
in  dealing  severely  with  her  near  kinsmen  in  the  interests 
of  the  State,  and  pointed  to  the  fact  that  any  undue 
encouragement  of  the  Imperial  clansmen,  when  inclined 
to  take  a  line  of  their  own,  was  liable,  as  history  had 
repeatedly  proved,  to  involve  the  country  in  destructive 
dissension.  Her  real  object  in  inflicting  punishment  on 
the  Prince  for  treating  the  Throne  with  disrespect  was 
to  save  him  from  himself  and  from  the  imminent  peril  of 
his  own  folly.  But  now  that  several  Memorials  had  been 
sent  in  by  Censors  and  others,  requesting  that  his  errors 
be  pardoned,  the  Throne  could  have  no  possible  objection 
to  showing  clemency  and,  the  position  having  been  made 
clear,  Prince  Kung  was  restored  to  the  position  of  Cham- 
berlain, and  to  the  direction  of  the  Foreign  OfRce.  The 
Prince,  in  fact,  needed  a  lesson  in  politeness  and,  having 
got  it,  Her  Majesty  was  prepared  to  let  bygones  be  by- 
gones, it  being  clearly  understood  that,  for  the  future,  he 
should  display  increased  energy  and  loyalty  as  a  mark 
of  his  sincere  gratitude  to  their  Majesties. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year,  1865,  took  place  the  burial 
of  the  late  Emperor,  Hsien-Feng,  the  preparation  of  whose 
tomb  had  been  proceeding  for  just  four  years.  With  him 
was  buried  his  consort  Sakota,  who  had  died  in  1850,  a 
month  before  her  husband's  accession  to  the  Throne;  her 
remains  had  been  awaiting  burial  at  a  village  temple,  seven 
miles  west  of  the  capital,  for  fifteen  years.  As  usual,  the 
funeral  ceremonies  and  preparation  of  the  tombs  involved 
vast  expenditure,  and  there  had  been  considerable  difficulty 
in  finding  the  necessary  funds,  for  the  southern  provinces, 
which,  under  ordinary  circumstances  would  have  made  the 
largest  contributions,  were  still  suffering  severely  from  the 


THE   FIRST   REGENCY  49 

ravages  of  the  Taiping  rebellion.  The  Emperor's  mauso- 
leum had  cost  nominally  ten  million  taels,  of  which  amount, 
of  course,  a  very  large  proportion  had  been  diverted  for  the 
benefit  of  the  officials  of  the  Household  and  others. 

The  young  Emperor,  and  the  Empresses  Regent  pro- 
ceeded, as  in  duty  bound,  to  the  Eastern  Tombs  to  take 
their  part  in  the  solemn  burial  ceremonies.  Prince  Kung 
was  in  attendance;  to  him  had  fallen  the  chief  part  in  the 
preparation  of  the  tomb  and  in  the  provision  of  the  funds, 
and  Her  Majesty  had  no  cause  to  complain  of  any  scamp- 
ing of  his  duties.  The  body  of  the  Emperor,  in  an  Imperial 
coffin  of  catalpa  wood,  richly  lacquered  and  inscribed  with 
Buddhist  sutras,  was  borne  within  the  huge  domed  grave 
chamber,  and  there  deposited  in  the  presence  of  their 
Majesties  upon  its  "jewelled  bedstead,"  the  pedestal  of 
precious  metals  prepared  to  receive  it.  In  the  place  of 
the  concubines  and  eunuchs,  who  in  prehistoric  days  used 
to  be  buried  alive  with  the  deceased  monarch,  wooden  and 
paper  figures  of  life  size  were  placed  beside  the  coffin, 
reverently  kneeling  to  serve  their  lord  in  the  halls  of  Hades. 
The  huge  candles  were  lighted,  prayers  were  recited,  and 
a  great  wealth  of  valuable  ornaments  arranged  within  the 
grave  chamber;  gold  and  jade  sceptres,  and  a  necklace 
of  pearls  were  placed  in  the  coffin.  And  when  all  was 
duly  done,  the  great  door  of  the  chamber  was  slowly 
lowered  and  sealed  in  its  place. 

Next  day  the  Empresses  Dowager  issued  a  Decree  in 
which  Prince  Kung's  meritorious  acts  are  graciously  recog- 
nised, and  their  Majesties'  thanks  accorded  to  him  for  the 
satisfactory  fulfilment  of  the  funeral  ceremonies. 

This  Decree  contains  the  following  significant  pas- 
sage:— 

"The  Decree  which  we  issued  last  Spring  was  caused  by  the 
Prince's  want  of  attention  to  small  details  of  etiquette,  and  if 
we  were  obliged  to  punish  him  severely,  our  motives  have  been 
clearly  explained.  No  doubt  everyone  in  the  Empire  is  well 
aware  of  the  facts,  but  as  posterity  may  possibly  fail  to  realise 
all  the  circumstances,  and  as  unjust  blame  might  fall  upon  the 
memory  of  Prince  Kung,  if  that  Decree  were  allowed  to  remain 


50    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

inscribed  amongst  the  Imperial  Archives,  thus  suggesting  a  flaw 
in  the  white  jade  of  his  good  name,  we  now  command  that  the 
Decree  in  which  we  announced  Prince  Kung's  dismissal  from 
office  be  expunged  from  the  annals  of  our  reign.  Thus  is  our 
affection  displayed  towards  a  deserving  servant,  and  his  good 
name  preserved  untarnished  to  all  time." 

The  Empress  Dowager  was  essentially  a  woman  of 
moods,  and  these  Imperial  Decrees  simply  reflect  the  fact, 
at  the  beginning  of  her  autocratic  rule,  as  they  did  until 
its  close.  Four  years  later  Prince  Kung  was  to  incur  her 
deep  and  permanent  dislike  by  conspiring  with  her  col- 
league to  deprive  her  of  her  favourite,  the  chief  eunuch 
An  Te-hai. 


TZU   HSI   AND   THE  EUNUCHS 

One  of  the  facts  upon  which  modern  Chinese  historians, 
Censors,  Imperial  Tutors  and  Guardians  of  the  Heir 
Apparent  have  repeatedly  laid  stress,  is  that  the  Ming 
Dynasty  became  effeminate,  then  degenerate,  and  was 
eventually  lost,  because  of  the  demoralising  influence  of 
the  eunuch  system  on  the  Court  and  its  officials  entourage. 
Upon  this  text,  moral  exhortations  in  the  best  classical 
manner  were  addressed  to  the  Throne  for  centuries, 
regardless  of  the  consideration  that  most  of  the  writers 
owed  their  positions,  and  hoped  to  owe  further  advance- 
ment, to  the  eunuchs,  who  had  the  sovereign's  ear.  These 
Memorials  were  usually  only  a  part  of  the  hoary  fabric  of 
pious  platitudes  and  shadowy  shibboleths  which  loom  so 
large  in  the  stock  in  trade  of  China's  bureaucacy  (in  which 
matter  China  stands  not  alone),  and  the  Empress  Dowager, 
under  whose  rule  the  evil  grew  and  assumed  monstrous 
proportions,  was  ever  wont  to  play  her  part  in  this  elaborate 
farce,  by  solemnly  approving  the  views  of  the  bold  critics 
and  by  professing  the  greatest  indignation  at  the  misdeeds 
of  her  eunuch  myrmidons  and  retainers. 

There  have  been,  of  course,  sincere  and  eloquent  critics 
of  this  pernicious  system  and  its  attendant  evils;  in  fact, 
scarcely  a  reformer  worthy  of  the  name  during  the  past 
fifty  years  has  failed  to  place  the  abolition  of  eunuchs  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  measures  necessary  to  bring  China 
into  line  with  the  civilised  Powers.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
one  of  the  first  causes  of  the  coup  d'etat  in  1898  arose  from 
the  hatred  of  the  Chief  Eunuch,  Li  Lien-ying,  for  the 
Emperor  Kuang-Hsii  (who  years  before  had  ventured  to 
have  him  beaten),  and  his  not  unnatural  apprehension 
that  the  Emperor  intended  to  follow  up  his  reforms  of  the 

51 


52    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Peking  Administration  by  devoting  his  attention  to  the 
Palace  and  to  the  aboHtion  of  eunuchs.  As  to  the  Boxer 
rising,  it  has  been  clearly  proved  that  this  notorious  and 
powerful  Chamberlain  used  all  the  weight  of  his  great 
influence  with  his  Imperial  mistress  on  behalf  of  the  anti- 
foreign  movement,  and  that,  if  justice  had  been  done  (that 
is  to  say  had  he  not  been  protected  by  the  Russian 
Legation),  his  should  have  been  one  of  the  very  first  names 
on  the  Peace  Protocol  "Black  List."  The  part  which  Li 
Lien-ying  played  in  these  two  national  crises  of  recent 
years  is  mentioned  here  chiefly  to  emphasise  the  fact  that 
the  platitudinous  utterances  of  the  orthodox  express,  as 
usual,  a  very  real  and  widespread  grievance,  and  that  the 
falsetto  notes  of  the  Censorate  were  answered  by  a  deep 
undertone  of  dissatisfaction  and  disgust  throughout  the 
provinces.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  progressive  and 
patriotic  Chinese  (e.g.  men  like  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  and 
T'ang  Shao-yi,  who  realised  how  greatly  the  persistence  of 
this  barbarous  medievalism  lowered  China  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world),  as  well  as  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  vernacular 
Press,  repeatedly  urged  that  the  Court  should  dispense 
with  eunuchs,  a  measure  which  the  Regent  favoured,  but 
which — such  was  the  power  wielded  by  these  "fawning 
sycophants  " — would  undoubtedly  have  been  difficult  and 
possibly  dangerous.  As  early  as  1906,  The  Times  corre- 
spondent at  Peking  was  discussing  the  possibility  of  their 
early  removal  as  one  of  the  many  reforms  which  then  shone 
so  brightly  on  the  horizon.  In  the  Chinese  conservative's 
opinion,  however,  which  still  weighs  heavily  in  China, 
there  are  centuries  of  precedents  and  arguments  to  be 
adduced  in  favour  of  a  Court  system  which  obtained  con- 
tinuously since  long  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era,  which  coincided  with  the  Chinese  accepted  ideas  of 
polygamy,  and  recognised  the  vital  importance  of  legitimacy 
of  succession  in  relation  to  the  national  religion  of  ancestor 
worship.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  true  that  in  the  golden 
days  of  the  Sage  Emperors  at  the  beginning  of  the  Chou 
Dynasty,  eunuchs  had  no  place  in  the  body  politic.  Later, 
during  the  period  of  that  Dynasty's  decay  and  the  era  of 


TZO  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  53 

the  feudal  States,  Confucius  refers  with  disapproval  to 
their  baneful  influence,  so  that  the  Sage's  authority  may 
be  adduced  against  them  and  their  proceedings. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  present  Dynasty  at  Peking 
(1644),  the  Manchus  took  over,  as  conquerors,  all  the 
existing  machinery  and  personnel  of  the  Chinese  Court, 
eunuchs  included,  but  they  lost  no  time  in  restricting  the 
latter's  activities  and  opportunities.  At  the  first  audience 
held  by  the  young  Emperor  Shun-Chih,  the  high  officials, 
Manchu  and  Chinese,  united  to  protest  against  the  recent 
high-handed  proceedings  of  the  Court  menials,  declaring 
them  to  be  "fit  only  to  sweep  floors,  and  in  no  wise  entitled 
to  have  access  to  the  Monarch."  Regulations  were 
promptly  introduced,  which  remained  in  force  (on  paper) 
till  the  abdication  in  1912,  forbidding  any  eunuch  to  occupy 
any  official  position,  or  to  hold  any  honorific  rank  or  title 
higher  than  a  Button  of  the  fourth  class.  More  important 
still,  in  view  of  the  far-reaching  conspiracy  of  the  Chief 
Eunuch,  Wei  Chung-hsien  (who  committed  suicide  to 
escape  the  capital  penalty),  was  the  law  then  introduced, 
which  forbade  any  eunuch  to  leave  the  capital  on  any 
pretext  whatsoever.  For  the  next  two  hundred  years, 
thanks  to  the  wise  rule  and  excellent  traditions  handed 
down  by  the  two  famous  Emperors  K'ang-Hsi  and 
Ch*ien-Lung,  the  Palace  eunuchs  were  kept  generally 
under  very  strict  discipline ;  but  with  the  present  century, 
when  degeneration  had  set  in  strongly  under  the  dissolute 
monarch  Hsien-Feng,  and  even  before  the  appearance 
of  Yehonala  on  the  scene,  their  evil  influence  had  again 
become  paramount  in  the  Forbidden  City.  With  Tzu 
Hsi's  accession  to  power,  all  the  corruption,  intrigues  and 
barbarous  proceedings,  that  had  characterised  the  last 
Mings,  were  gradually  re-established  and  became  perma- 
nent features  of  her  Court. 

Of  the  power  which  the  eunuchs  exercised  throughout 
the  whole  of  Tzu  Hsi's  reign,  there  is  no  possible  doubt : 
the  abuses  which  they  practised  under  her  protection, 
abuses  flagrant  and  unconcealed,  increased  with  the  pass- 
ing years  and  her  own  growing  indifference  to  criticism, 


54    CHINA  UNDER  THE   EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

until,  after  1898,  her  favourite  and  chief  body-servant,  Li 
Lien-ying  did  not  scruple  to  boast  that  he  could  make  or 
mar  the  highest  officials  at  his  pleasure  and  defy  the  Son 
of  Heaven  on  his  Throne.  Of  the  countless  legends  of 
debauchery  in  the  Palace  of  orgies  devised  for  Tzii  Hsi  by 
the  Court  eunuchs  and  actors,  there  is  naturally  nothing 
approaching  to  direct  evidence  :  the  frequent  denunciations 
by  Censors  and  the  scurrilous  writings  of  Cantonese  and 
other  lampooners,  afford  at  best  but  circumstantial  proof. 
The  writings  of  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his  associates,  in 
particular,  are  clearly  inspired  by  blind  and  unscrupulous 
hatred,  and  so  inaccurate  in  matters  of  common  know- 
ledge and  history,  that  one  must  perforce  discount  the 
value  of  their  statements  wherever  the  Empress  Dowager 
or  Jung  Lu  are  concerned.  But  common  report  in  China, 
as  elsewhere,  is  usually  based  on  some  foundation  of  truth, 
and  in  Peking,  where  the  mass  of  the  population  has 
always  been  conspicuously  loyal  to  Tzu  Hsi,  there  have 
never  been  two  opinions  as  to  the  extravagance  and  general 
profligacy  of  her  Court  and  of  the  evils  of  the  eunuch 
regime.  Nor  is  there  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  deplorable 
effect  exercised  by  these  vicious  underlings  on  weak  and 
undisciplined  Emperors,  rulers  of  decadent  instincts  often 
encouraged  in  vicious  practices  to  their  speedy  undoing. 
That  this  was  the  fate  of  Tzu  Hsi*s  own  son,  the  Emperor 
T'ung-Chih,  is  well-known,  nor  is  there  any  doubt  that 
the  deaths  of  both  Hsien-Feng  and  Kuang-Hsii  were 
hastened,  if  not  caused,  by  the  temptations  to  which  they 
were  exposed  by  their  vicious  environment.  The  inner 
history  of  the  Celestial  Empire  and  the  Manchu  Dynasty 
during  the  last  seventy  years  is  inextricably  bound  up  with 
that  of  the  Palace  eunuchs  and  their  far-reaching  intrigues. 
During  the  half  century  of  Tzu  Hsi's  rule,  the  power 
behind  the  Throne  (literally  a  power  of  darkness  in  high 
places)  was  that  of  her  favourite  Chamberlains.  Of  these 
the  last,  who  survived  her,  Li  Lien-ying,  was  known  by 
his  nickname  of  "Cobbler's  Wax  Li"   (P4  Hsiao  Li)  ^ 

^  So  named  because,  before  becoming  a  eunuch  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
he  was  apprenticed  to  a  cobbler  at  his  native  place,  Ho-Chien  fu,  in 
Chihli,  from  which  district  most  of  the  eunuchs  come. 


TZU  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  55 

from  one  end  of  the  Empire  to  the  other  as  the  chief 
"squeezer"  and  arch  villain  of  many  a  Palace  tragedy. 
His  influence  over  his  Imperial  mistress  was  indeed 
remarkable;  on  all  occasions,  except  State  audiences,  she 
was  wont  to  treat  him  with  an  affectionate  familiarity,  and 
to  allow  him  a  sans-gene,  to  which  no  courtier,  nor  any 
member  of  her  own  family  (save  perhaps  Jung  Lu)  dared 
ever  aspire. 

During  the  Court's  residence,  and  the  Emperor's  illness, 
at  Jehol  in  1861,  the  young  Yehonala  had  occasion  to  notice 
and  to  appreciate  the  intelligence  and  willing  service 
rendered  by  one  of  the  eunuchs  in  immediate  attendance 
upon  her;  this  servant,  by  name  An  Te-hai,  became  her 
faithful  henchman  throughout  the  crisis  of  the  Tsai  Yiian 
conspiracy,  and  her  intermediary  and  confidant  in  her 
dealings  with  the  young  guardsman,  Jung  Lu.  Upon  her 
accession  to  the  Co-Regency,  he  became  her  favourite 
attendant  and  emissary,  and  later  her  dme  damnee,  sharing 
in  all  her  ambitious  hopes  and  plans,  with  no  small  advan- 
tage to  himself,  while  at  the  same  time  employing  his 
undeniable  talents  to  the  diversion  of  the  young  widow's 
mind  by  the  provision  of  the  elaborate  Court  pageants 
and  theatrical  entertainments  which  her  soul  loved.  An 
Te-hai  was  himself  an  actor  of  no  mean  ability  and  ex- 
ceedingly handsome  of  his  person. 

It  was  at  this  time,  before  the  Regency  was  firmly  estab- 
lished and  while  yet  the  reverberating  echoes  of  the  Tsai 
Yiian  conspiracy  lingered  in  Chihli,  that  the  leading 
Censors  began  to  send  in  Memorials  against  the  self- 
evident  extravagance  and  the  rumoured  profligacy  of  Tzu 
Hsi's  Palace.  The  young  Yehonala,  headstrong  and 
already  impatient  of  criticism  and  restraint,  confident  also 
in  the  strength  and  loyalty  of  her  immediate  following, 
never  allowed  these  remonstrances  to  affect  her  conduct  in 
the  slightest  degree;  nevertheless,  a  stickler  always  for 
etiquette  and  appearances,  and  an  adept  at  "face-saving" 
arts,  she  had  no  objection  to  expressing  the  heartiest 
approval  of,  and  agreement  with,  her  professional 
moralists.  On  more  than  one  occasion,  in  those  first  years, 
we  find  her  proclaiming  in  most  suitably  worded  Edicts, 


56    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

pious  intentions  which  were  never  intended  to  be  taken 
seriously  by  anyone,  and  never  were.  The  following 
Decree,  issued  in  the  third  year  of  the  Regency  (1864),  is 
a  case  in  point,  and  particularly  interesting  in  that  it  refers 
to  the  wholesale  pilfering  by  eunuchs  in  the  Palace. 

A  Decree  in  the  name  of  the  two  Empresses  Regent,  in 
the  third  year  of  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih  :  — 

"The  Censor  Chia  To  memorialises,  saying  that  it  has  come 
to  his  knowledge  that  certain  of  the  eunucjis  who  perform 
theatricals  in  the  Imperial  Household,  have  had  their  costumes 
made  of  tribute  silks  and  satins  taken  from  the  Imperial  store- 
houses. He  asserts  that  they  perform  daily  before  the  Throne 
and  regularly  receive  largesse  to  the  amount  of  thousands  of 
taels.  He  asks  that  these  practices  be  forbidden  and  discon- 
tinued forthwith,  in  order  that  all  tendency  towards  vicious 
courses  may  be  checked. 

"With  reference  to  this  Memorial,  it  should  be  stated  that 
last  year,  although  the  twenty-seven  months  of  Imperial  mourn- 
ing for  the  late  monarch  were  drawing  to  their  close,  we  issued 
a  Decree  forbidding  all  festivities,  for  the  reason  that  His  late 
Majesty's  remains  had  not  yet  been  removed  to  their  final  place 
of  sepulture ;  at  the  same  time  we  gave  orders  that  the  seasonal 
tribute  in  kind,  and  provincial  offerings,  should  be  forwarded, 
as  usual,  in  order  to  provide  eventually  for  the  customing  of  the 
Palace  theatricals,  with  reference  to  which  matter  we  intended 
to  issue  another  Decree  in  due  course,  upon  the  conclusion  of  the 
funeral  ceremonies.  We  seized  opportunity,  in  this  same  Edict, 
to  abolish  once  and  for  all  the  custom  of  bringing  actors  to  the 
Palace  to  be  made  eunuchs,  holding  it  to  be  wise,  while  His 
Majesty  is  still  a  minor,  that  everything  that  might  tend  in  any 
way  to  lead  him  into  paths  of  extravagance  and  dissipation 
should  be  firmly  nipped  in  the  bud.  The  Censor's  present 
Memorial  has  therefore  filled  us  with  real  amazement.  At  a 
time  like  this,  when  rebellions  are  still  raging,  and  our  people 
are  in  sore  distress,  when  our  treasuries  are  empty  and  our 
revenues  insufficient  for  the  needs  of  Government,  our  hearts 
are  heavy  with  sorrowful  thoughts,  and  must  be  so,  especially 
as  long  as  His  late  Majesty's  remains  have  not  yet  been  born  to 
their  final  resting  place.  How  then  could  we  possibly  permit 
such  a  state  of  things  as  the  Censor  describes?  ^  Furthermore, 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Comptroller  of  our  Household  to  keep  a 
complete  inventory  of  all  bullion  and  silken  stuffs  in  the  Palace, 

*  This  form  of  argument,  under  similar  conditions,  obtains  all  over  the 
Empire.     "  How  could  I  possibly  squeeze  my  master?  "  says  the  servant. 


TZO  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  57 

none  of  which  can  be  touched  without  our  express  permission; 
Surely  this  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  all  these  rumours  are  utterly 
devoid  of  foundation. 

"Nevertheless,  in  our  remote  seclusion  of  the  Palace,  it  is 
inevitable  that  we  should  be  kept  in  ignorance  of  much  that  goes 
on,  so  that  it  is  just  possible  there  may  be  some  ground  for 
these  reports.  It  may  be  that  certain  evil-disposed  eunuchs 
have  been  committing  irregularities  beyond  the  Palace  precincts, 
and,  if  so,  such  conduct  must  be  stopped  at  all  costs.  We  hereby 
command  that  drastic  measures  be  taken  to  deal  with  the 
offenders  at  once. 

'*  It  is  imperatively  necessary  that  the  Emperor,  in  the 
intervals  of  his  studies,  should  have  about  his  person  only  honest 
and  steady  retainers,  with  whom  he  may  converse  on  the  arts 
and  practice  of  government.  If  his  attendants  are  evil  men  and 
make  it  their  business  to  flatter  his  ears  and  divert  his  eyes  with 
luxurious  and  effeminate  pastimes,  the  result  might  well  be  to 
produce  in  His  Majesty  most  undesirable  tendencies;  and  any 
fault  in  the  Emperor,  however  trifling,  is  liable  to  involve  the 
State  in  far-reaching  misfortunes.  We  therefore  hereby  author- 
ise the  Ministers  of  our  Household  to  see  to  it  that  the  Chief 
Eunuch  enforces  strict  discipline  upon  all  his  subordinates,  and 
should  any  of  them  hereafter  venture  to  commit  presumptuous 
acts,  or  to  display  their  overweening  arrogance,  they  must  at 
once  be  arrested  by  the  poHce  and  severely  punished.  And 
should  such  a  case  occur  the  Chief  Eunuch  will  also  be  dismissed 
for  neglect  of  his  duty  of  supervision,  and  the  Comptrollers  of 
the  Household  will  incur  our  severe  displeasure,  with  penalties. 
Let  this  Decree  be  copied  and  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the 
Household  and  the  Ante-Chambers." 

Thus,  Tzu  Hsi,  in  her  best  manner,  **for  the  gallery." 
But,  "in  the  deep  seclusion  of  our  Palace,"  life  went  on  as 
before,  the  merry  round  of  an  Oriental  Trianon,  while 
the  Chief  Eunuch's  influence  over  the  young  Empress 
became  greater  every  day.  It  was  common  knowledge, 
and  the  gossip  of  the  tea-houses,  that  his  lightest  whim 
was  law  in  the  Forbidden  City;  that  Yehonala  and  he, 
dressed  in  fancy  costumes  from  historical  plays,  would 
make  frequent  excursions  on  the  Palace  lake ;  that  he  fre- 
quently wore  the  Dragon  robes  sacred  to  the  use  of  the 
sovereign,  and  that  the  Empress  had  publicly  presented 
him  with  the  jade  "ju-yi,"  symbol  of  royal  power.  Under 
these  circumstances  it  was  only  natural,  if  not  inevitable, 
that  unfounded  rumours  should  be  rife  in  exaggeration  of 


58    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

the  real  facts,  and  so  we  find  it  reported  that  An  Te-hai 
was  no  eunuch,  and  again,  that  Yehonala  had  been 
delivered  of  a  son  ^  of  which  he  was  the  father;  many 
fantastic  and  moving  tales  were  current  of  the  licentious 
festivities  of  the  Court,  of  students  masquerading  as 
eunuchs  and  then  being  put  out  of  the  way  in  the  sub- 
terranean galleries  of  the  Palace.  Rumours  and  tales  of 
orgies;  inventions  no  doubt,  for  the  most  part,  yet  inevit- 
able in  the  face  of  the  notorious  and  undeniable  corruption 
that  had  characterised  the  Court  and  the  seraglio  under 
the  dissolute  Hsien-Feng,  and  justified,  if  not  confirmed, 
as  time  went  on,  by  an  irresistible  consensus  of  opinion 
in  the  capital,  and  by  fully  substantiated  events  in  the 
Empress  Dowager's  career. 

Of  these  events,  one,  which  had  far-reaching  results, 
was  her  violation  of  the  dynastic  house-law  which  forbade 
eunuchs  to  leave  the  capital.  In  1869,  being  short  of  funds, 
and  desiring  to  replenish  her  Privy  Purse  without  consult- 
ing Prince  Kung  or  her  colleague  the  Co-Regent,  she 
despatched  her  favourite  An  Te-hai  on  a  special  mission 
to  Shantung,  where  he  was  to  collect  tribute  in  her  name.^ 
By  this  time  the  Chief  Eunuch  had  incurred  the  bitter 
enmity  of  several  of  the  Princes  of  the  Imperial  Clan,  and 
especially  of  Prince  Kung,  not  only  because  of  his  grow- 
ing influence  over  Tzu  Hsi,  but  because  of  his  insolent 
bearing  to  all  at  Court.  On  one  occasion  the  Empress  had 
curtly  sent  word  to  Prince  Kung  that  she  could  not  grant 
him  audience  because  she  was  busy  talking  to  the  eunuch, 
an  insult  which  the  Prince  never  forgot  and  which  cost  the 
favourite  his  life,  besides  leading  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
Prince  and  other  consequences  serious  to  the  Empire. 

The  Chief  Eunuch's  illegal  mission  to  Shantung,  and 

^  Chinese  pamphleteers  in  Canton  record  the  event  with  much  detail, 
and  state  that  this  son  is  alive  to-day  under  the  name  of  Chiu  Min. 

2  A  fantastic  account  of  this  mission  is  contained  in  an  imaginative 
work  {La  Vie  Secrhe  de  la  Cour  de  Chine^  Paris,  19 10),  where  the  Chief 
Eunuch's  name  is  given  as  "  Siao."  This  curious  blunder  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  Eunuch's  nickname,  on  account  of  his  stature,  was  "  Hsiao 
An'rh"  (little  Ann),  just  as  Li  Lien-Ying's  was  "P'i  Hsiao"  Li  all  over 
China. 


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TZtr  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  59 

his  outrageous  behaviour  in  that  province,  provided  Prince 
'  Kung  with  a  long-sought  opportunity  not  only  of  wreaking 
vengeance  on  him  but  of  creating  rivalry  and  enmity 
between  the  Empresses  Regent.  The  Governor  of  Shan- 
tung, an  able  and  courageous  official  named  Ting  Pao- 
chen,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  Taiping 
rebellion,  was  highly  incensed  at  the  arrogant  eunuch's 
assumption  of  Imperial  authority,  and  being  quite  au 
courant  with  the  position  of  affairs  in  the  Palace,  he  reported 
direct  to  Prince  Kung  and  asked  for  instructions.  The 
Governor's  despatch  reached  the  Prince  while  Tzu  Hsi 
was  amusing  herself  with  theatricals ;  without  a  moment's 
delay  he  sought  audience  of  Tzu  An,  the  Co-Regent 
Empress,  and,  playing  upon  her  vanity  and  weak  disposi- 
tion, induced  her  to  sign  a  Decree,  which  he  drafted  in 
her  presence,  ordering  the  eunuch's  summary  decapita- 
tion the  customary  formality  of  a  trial  in  Peking  being 
dispensed  with.  Tzii  An,  hard  pressed  as  she  was,  gave 
her  consent  reluctantly  and  with  a  clear  presentiment  of 
evil  to  come  from  the  wrath  of  her  masterful  colleague. 
"The  Western  Empress  will  assuredly  kill  me  for  this," 
she  is  reported  to  have  said  to  the  Prince,  as  she  handed 
him  the  sealed  Decree,  which  Kung  sent  off  post-haste  by 
special  courier. 
The  following  is  the  text  of  this  interesting  document :  — 

"  Ting  Pao-chen  reports  that  a  eunuch  has  been  creating 
disturbances  in  the  province  of  Shantung.  According  to  the 
Department  Magistrate  of  Te  Chou,  a  eunuch  named  An  and 
his  followers  passed  through  that  place  by  way  of  the  Imperial 
Canal,  in  two  dragon  barges,  with  much  display  of  pomp  and 
pageantry.  He  announced  that  he  had  come  on  an  Imperial 
mission  to  procure  Dragon  robes.  His  barges  flew  a  black 
banner,  bearing  in  its  centre  the  triple  Imperial  emblems  of  the 
Sun,  and  there  were  also  Dragon  and  Phoenix  flags  flying  on 
both  sides  of  his  vessels.^  A  goodly  company  of  both  sexes  were 
in  attendance  on  this  person;  there  were  female  musicians, 
skilled  in  the  use  of  string  and  wind  instruments.  The  banks 
of  the  Canal  were  lined  with  crowds  of  spectators,  who  witnessed 
with  amazement  and  admiration  his  progress.  The  21st  day  of 
last  month  happened  to  be  this  eunuch's  birthday,  so  he  arrayed 

1  The  Phoenix  flag  signified  that  he  was  sent  by  the  Empresses  Regent. 


6o    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

himself  in  Dragon  robes,  and  stood  on  the  foredeck  of  his  barge, 
to  receive  the  homage  of  his  suite.  The  local  Magistrate  was 
just  about  to  order  his  arrest  when  the  barges  set  sail  and 
proceeded  southwards.  The  Governor  adds  that  he  has  already 
given  orders  for  his  immediate  arrest. 

"We  are  dumbfoundered  at  this  report.  How  can  we  hope 
ever  to  purify  the  standard  of  morals  in  the  Palace  and  frighten 
evil-doers,  unless  we  make  an  example  of  this  insolent  eunuch, 
who  has  dared  to  leave  Peking  without  our  permission  and  to 
commit  these  lawless  deeds?  The  Governors  of  the  three  pro- 
vinces of  Shantung,  Honan  and  Kiangsu  are  ordered  to  seek  out 
and  arrest  the  eunuch  An,  whom  we  had  formerly  honoured  with 
rank  of  the  sixth  grade  and  the  decoration  of  the  crow's  feather. 
Upon  his  being  duly  identified  by  his  companions,  let  him  be 
forthwith  beheaded,  without  further  formalities,  no  attention  is 
to  be  paid  to  any  crafty  explanations  which  he  may  attempt  to 
make.  The  Governors  concerned  will  be  held  responsible  in  the 
event  of  failure  to  effect  his  arrest." 

Tzu  Hsi  remained  for  some  time  in  blissful  ignorance  of 
her  favourite's  danger,  and  even  of  his  death.  No  doubt 
the  Chief  Eunuch's  great  unpopularity  enabled  Prince 
Kung  and  the  Empress  Tzu  An  to  keep  the  matter  secret 
until  the  offender  was  past  helping.  Ten  days  later,  Tzu 
An  issued  a  second  Decree,  extracted  from  her  like  the 
first  by  Prince  Kung,  in  which  the  eunuch's  execution  is 
recorded,  as  follows  :  — 

"  Ting  Pao-chen  now  reports  that  the  eunuch  An  was  arrested 
in  the  T'ai  An  prefecture  and  has  been  summarily  beheaded. 
Our  dynasty's  house-law  is  most  strict  in  regard  to  the  proper 
discipline  of  eunuchs,  and  provides  severe  punishment  for  any 
offences  which  they  may  commit.  They  have  always  been  sternly 
forbidden  to  make  expeditions  to  the  provinces,  or  to  create 
trouble.  Nevertheless,  An  Te-hai  actually  had  the  brazen 
effrontery  to  violate  this  law,  and  for  his  crimes  his  execution 
is  only  a  fitting  reward.  In  future,  let  all  eunuchs  take  warning 
by  his  example ;  should  we  have  further  cause  to  complain,  the 
chief  eunuchs  of  the  several  departments  of  the  Household,  will 
be  punished  as  well  as  the  actual  offender.  Any  eunuch  who 
may  hereafter  pretend  that  he  has  been  sent  on  Imperial  business 
to  the  provinces  shall  be  cast  into  chains  at  once,  and  sent  to 
Peking  for  punishment." 

This  Decree  has  a  half-hearted  ring,  as  if  some  of  the 
conspirators'  fear  of  the  coming  wrath  of  Yehonala  had 


TZO  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  6i 

crept  into  it.  Very  different  in  wording  are  the  Edicts  in 
which  Tzu  Hsi  condemns  an  offender  to  death.  We  miss 
her  trenchant  style,  that  ** strength  of  the  pen"  which  was 
the  secret  of  much  of  her  power. 

Simultaneously  with  the  death  of  An,  in  Shantung, 
several  eunuchs  of  his  following  were  put  to  death  by 
strangling;  six  others  escaped  from  the  police,  of  whom 
five  were  recaptured  and  executed.  The  Chief  Eunuch's 
family  were  sent  as  slaves  to  the  frontier  guards  in  the 
north-west.  Several  days  after  the  execution  of  Tzu  Hsi's 
favourite,  the  eunuch  who  had  escaped  made  his  way  back 
to  Peking,  and  sent  word  to  the  Empress  through  Li  Lien- 
ying,  another  of  her  confidential  attendants.  At  first  she 
could  scarcely  believe  that  her  timorous  and  self-effacing 
colleague  could  have  dared  to  sign  these  Decrees  on  her 
own  responsibility  and  in  secret,  no  matter  what  amount 
of  pressure  might  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  her. 
When  she  realised  what  had  occurred,  the  Palace  witnessed 
one  of  those  outbursts  of  torrential  rage  with  which  it  was 
to  become  familiar  in  years  to  come.  Swiftly  making  her 
way  to  the  "Palace  of  Benevolent  Peace,"  the  residence  of 
her  Co-Regent,  she  wrathfully  demanded  an  explanation. 
Tzu  An,  terrified,  endeavoured  to  put  the  whole  blame 
upon  Prince  Kung;  but  the  plea  did  not  serve  her,  and 
Tzu  Hsi,  after  a  fierce  quarrel,  left,  vowing  vengeance  on 
them  both.  This  event  marked  a  turning  point  in  the 
career  of  Yehonala,  who,  until  then,  had  maintained 
amicable  relations  with  her  less  strong-minded  colleague, 
and  all  the  appearances  of  equality  in  the  Co-Regency. 
Henceforward  she  devoted  more  time  and  closer  attention 
to  affairs  of  State,  consolidating  her  position  and  power 
with  a  clear  determination  to  prevent  any  further  interfer- 
ence with  her  supreme  authority.  From  this  time  forward 
she  definitely  assumes  the  first  place  as  ruler  of  China, 
relegating  her  colleague  completely  to  the  background. 

When,  on  the  mornirig  after  the  storm.  Prince  Kung 
appeared  in  the  Audience  Hall,  Tzu  Hsi  sternly  rebuked 
him,  threatening  him  with  dismissal  and  the  forfeiture  of 
his  titles.   For  the  time  being,  however,  she  allowed  him  to 


62    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

go  unpunished,  but  she  never  forgave  the  offence,  and  she 
took  her  revenge  in  due  season  :  he  suffered  the  effects  of 
her  resentment  as  long  as  he  lived.  Her  first  act  was  to 
pass  over  his  son,  the  rightful  heir  to  the  Throne,  upon 
the  death  of  T'ung-Chih.  It  is  true  that  in  after  years  she 
permitted  him  to  hold  high  office,  but  this  was,  firstly, 
because  she  could  not  afford  to  dispense  with  his  services, 
and,  secondly,  because  of  her  genuine  affection  for  his 
daughter,  whom  she  had  adopted  as  her  own  child. 

An  Te-hai  was  succeeded  in  the  post  of  Chief  Eunuch 
and  confidential  attendant  on  her  Majesty  by  Li  Lien-ying, 
of  whom  mention  has  already  been  made.  For  the  next 
forty  years  this  Palace  servant  was  destined  to  play  a  lead- 
ing part  in  the  government  of  China,  to  hold  in  his  supple 
hands  the  lives  and  deaths  of  thousands,  to  make  and 
unmake  the  highest  officials  of  the  Empire,  and  to  levy 
rich  tribute  on  the  eighteen  provinces.  As  a  youth  of 
sixteen,  when  he  "left  the  family  "  (as  the  Chinese  euphem- 
istically describe  the  making  of  a  eunuch),  Li  was  remark- 
able for  his  handsome  appearance  and  good  manners, 
advantages  which  never  failed  to  carry  weight  with  Tzu 
Hsi.  It  is  recorded  on  trustworthy  authority  that  at  an 
early  stage  in  his  career  he  had  so  ingratiated  himself  with 
Her  Majesty  that  he  was  permitted  unusual  liberties, 
remaining  seated  in  her  presence,  aye,  even  on  the  Throne 
itself.  In  the  privacy  of  her  apartments  he  was  allowed 
to  discuss  whatever  subjects  he  chose,  without  being 
spoken  to,  and  as  years  passed  and  his  familiarity  with 
the  Old  Buddha  increased,  he  became  her  regular  and 
authoritative  adviser  on  all  important  State  business.  In 
later  years,  when  speaking  of  Her  Majesty  to  outsiders, 
even  to  high  officials,  he  would  use  the  familiar  pronoun 
''Tsa-men^'  ^  meaning  "we  two,"  which  is  usually  reserved 
for  blood  relations  or  persons  on  a  footing  of  familiar 
equality,  and  he  was  currently  known  among  his  followers 
by  the  almost  sacrilegious  title  of  "Lord  of  nine  thousand 
years,"  the  Emperor  being  Lord  of  ten  thousand.     Only 

1  The  same  expression  is  used  of  a  novice  taking  the  vows  of  Buddhist 
priesthood. 


TZC  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  63 

on  solemn   State  occasions  did  he  observe  the  etiquette 
prescribed  for  his  class  and  a  modest  demeanour. 

Corrupt,  avaricious,  vindictive  and  fiercely  cruel  to  his 
enemies  and  rivals,  it  must  be  said  in  Li*s  favour  that  he 
was,  at  least,  wholly  devoted  and  faithful  to  his  Imperial 
mistress,  and  that  at  times  of  peril  he  never  failed  to  exert 
himself  to  the  utmost  for  her  comfort  and  protection.  He 
possessed,  moreover,  other  good  qualities  which  appealed 
not  only  to  Tzu  Hsi  but  to  many  of  the  high  Manchu 
officials,  who  did  not  consider  it  beneath  their  pride  to 
throng  for  admission  at  his  private  residence.  He  was 
cheerful,  fond  of  a  joke,  an  excellent  actor  ^  and  raconteur ^ 
and  a  generous  host :  above  all,  he  was  passing  rich.  At 
the  Empress  Dowager's  funeral,  in  November  1909,  this 
aged  retainer  presented  a  pathetic  and  almost  venerable 
spectacle,  enough  to  make  one  forget  for  a  moment  the 
accumulated  horrors  of  his  seventy  years  of  wickedness. 
Smitten  with  age  and  sickness,  he  could  scarcely  totter 
the  short  distance  which  the  cortege  had  to  make  on  foot ; 
but  of  all  that  vast  throng  of  officials  and  Palace  servants, 
he  alone  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  deep  and  genuine 
grief.  Watching  the  intelligent  features  of  this  maker  of 
secret  history,  one  could  not  but  wonder  what  thoughts 
were  passing  through  that  subtle  brain,  as  he  shuffled  past 
the  Pavilion  of  the  Diplomatic  Body,  escorting  for  the  last 
time  his  great  mistress, — the  close  confidant,  not  to  say 
comrade,  of  all  those  long  and  eventful  years.  For  half 
a  century  he  had  served  her  with  unremitting  zeal  and 
fidelity,  no  small  thing  in  a  country  when  the  allegiance 
of  servants  is  so  commonly  bought  and  sold.  In  his  youth 
it  was  he  who  walked  and  ran  beside  her  chair  as  body 
servant;  through  what  scenes  of  splendour  and  squalor 
had  they  both  passed  since  then,  and  now  he  was  left  alone, 
surrounded  by  new  faces  and  confronted  by  imminent  peril 
of  change.    Yet  in  spite  of  his  long  life  and  the  enervating 

^  Tzu  Hsi  was  fond  of  masquerading  with  her  lavourite,  till  well 
advanced  in  years.  One  photograph  of  her  is  on  sale  in  Peking,  wherein 
she  is  posing  as  the  Goddess  of  Mercy  (Kuanyin)  with  Li  in  attendance 
as  one  of  the  Boddhisatvas. 


64    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

influences  of  his  profession,  the  old  man's  powerful 
physique  was  by  no  means  exhausted. 

Too  wise  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  unfortunate 
predecessor,  Li  never  made  raids  on  his  own  account  into 
the  provinces,  nor  did  he  ever  attempt  to  gain  or  claim 
high  official  rank  remaining  prudently  content  with  the 
fourth  class  button,  which  is  the  highest  grade  to  which 
eunuchs  may  legally  aspire.  But,  under  the  protection 
and  with  the  full  knowledge  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  he 
organised  a  regular  system  of  corvees,  squeezes  and 
douceursy  levied  on  every  high  official  in  the  Empire,  the 
proceeds  of  which  he  frequently  shared  with  the  Old 
Buddha  herself.  As  shown  in  another  place,  the  Empress 
and  her  Chief  Eunuch  practically  made  common  cause  and 
a  common  purse  in  collecting  "tribute"  and  squeezes 
during  the  wanderings  of  the  Court  in  exile  after  1900. 
At  that  time  the  Chief  Eunuch,  less  fortunate  than  his 
mistress,  had  lost  the  whole  of  his  buried  treasure  in  the 
capital.  It  had  been  ^'cached"  in  a  safe  place,  known 
only  to  his  intimate  subordinates,  but  one  of  these  sold 
the  secret  to  the  French  troops,  who  raided  the  hoard,  a 
rich  booty.  One  of  Li's  first  steps  after  the  Court's  return 
was  to  obtain  the  Old  Buddha's  permission  to  have  the 
traitor  beheaded,  which  was  done  without  undue  form- 
alities. The  Chief  Eunuch's  fortune  was  estimated  by 
Peking  bankers  in  1 910  at  about  two  millions  sterling, 
invested  chiefly  in  pawn-shops  and  money-changing  estab- 
lishments at  the  capital;  this  sum  represents  roughly  his 
share  of  the  provincial  tribute  and  squeezes  on  official 
appointments  since  1900,  and  the  total  is  not  surprising 
when  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  price  of  one  official  post 
has  been  known  to  bring  him  in  as  much  as  three  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  taels,  or  say  forty  thousand  pounds. 

One  of  the  secrets  of  his  wealth  was  that  he  never 
despised  the  day  of  small  things.  The  following  is  the 
text  of  a  letter  in  our  possession  (of  which  we  reproduce  a 
facsimile),  written  by  him  to  one  of  the  regular  contractors 
of  the  Palace,  with  whom  he  must  have  had  many  similar 
transactions.     The  paper  on  which  it  is  written  is  of  the 


TZU  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  65 

commonest,  and  the  visiting  card  which,  as  usual,  accom- 
panies it,  is  that  of  an  unpretentious  business  man ;  the 
style  of  the  writer  is  terse  and  to  the  point:  — 

"To  my  worthy  friend,  Mr.  Wang,  the  Seventh  (of  his 
family) : — 

"  Since  I  last  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  you  have  been 
constantly  in  my  thoughts.  I  wish  you,  with  all  respect,  long 
life  and  prosperity  :  thus  will  your  days  fulfil  my  best  hopes  of 
you.  And  now  I  beg  politely  to  tell  you  that  I,  your  younger 
brother,^  am  quite  ashamed  of  the  emptiness  of  my  purse  and  I 
therefore  beg  that  you,  good  Sir,  will  be  so  good  as  to  lend  me 
notes  to  the  amount  of  fifteen  hundred  taels,  which  sum  kindly 
hand  to  the  bearer  of  this  letter.  I  look  forward  to  a  day  for 
our  further  conversation, 

"Your  younger  brother, 

"Li  Lien-ying." 

As  to  the  amount,  Li  knew  exactly  how  much  the  con- 
tractors and  furnishers  of  the  Palace  should  pay  on  every 
occasion,  and  that  there  was  no  need  to  question  the 
possibility  of  the  "loan"  not  being  forthcoming. 

That  he  encouraged  lavish  expenditure  at  the  Court  is 
certain,  and  scarcely  a  matter  for  wonder,  but  his  control  of 
finance  extended  far  beyond  the  Privy  Purse,  and  wrought 
great  harm  to  the  Empire  on  more  than  one  historic 
occasion.  For  instance,  China's  humiliating  defeat  at  the 
hands  of  Japan  in  1894  was  very  largely  due  to  his  diver- 
sion of  vast  sums  of  money  from  the  Navy  to  the  recon- 
struction and  decoration  of  the  Summer  Palace,  a  work 
from  which  he  and  his  underlings  profited  to  no  small 
extent.  In  1885,  Prince  Ch'un  had  been  appointed  head 
of  the  Admiralty  Board,  assisted  by  Prince  Ch'ing,  Li 
Hung-chang  and  the  Marquis  Tseng.  After  the  death  of 
the  Marquis,  however  (who  had  been  a  moving  spirit  in 
the  organisation  of  the  Board),  Naval  affairs  passed  into 
the  control  of  a  clique  of  young  and  inexperienced  Princes, 
and  when,  in  1889,  the  Emperor  assumed  the  direction 
of  the  Government,  one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  order 
the   re-building  of  the   Summer  Palace,    which    Imperial 

^  A  term  of  humility. 


66    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

residence  had  remained  in  ruins  since  its  destruction  by  the 
Allies  in  1861.  There  being  no  funds  available,  Li  advised 
that  the  Naval  appropriations  should  be  devoted  to  this 
purpose,  so  that  the  Old  Buddha  might  be  suitably  pro- 
vided with  a  residence ;  this  was  accordingly  done,  and  the 
Naval  Department  became  a  branch  of  the  Imperial  House- 
hold (Nei  Wu  Fu)  for  all  purposes  of  Government  finance. 
When  the  war  with  Japan  broke  out,  the  Empress  Dowager 
issued  orders  that  the  Naval  Department  should  be 
abolished.  This  order  evoked  very  general  criticism,  but, 
as  the  Department  and  the  Summer  Palace  rebuilding  fund 
had  come  to  be  treated  as  one  and  the  same  account,  her 
Decree  simply  meant  that  as  the  Palace  restoration  was 
now  complete,  and  as  the  funds  were  quite  exhausted,  the 
account  in  question  might  be  considered  closed.  There 
was  obviously  nothing  to  be  gained  by  useless  enquiries 
for  money  to  be  transferred  from  the  Palace  to  the 
Navy. 

In  1889  the  Chief  Eunuch  accompanied  Prince  Ch'un  on 
his  first  tour  of  inspection  to  the  northern  Naval  ports, 
including  the  Naval  bases  of  Port  Arthur  and  Weihaiwei. 
It  was  a  matter  of  very  general  comment  at  the  time  that 
the  honours  paid  to  the  eunuch  were  noticeably  greater 
than  those  shown  to  the  Prince.  Every  officer  in  the 
Peiyang  squadron,  from  Admiral  Ting  downwards,  did  his 
best  to  ingratiate  himself  with  this  powerful  Chamberlain, 
and  to  become  enrolled  on  the  list  of  his  proteges,  so  that 
he  was  entoure  with  all  manner  of  bribery  and  adulation. 
Many  critics,  foreign  and  Chinese,  have  cast  on  Li  Hung- 
chang  the  blame  for  the  disasters  of  the  Japanese  war,  but 
they  surely  overlook  the  fact,  to  which  even  the  great 
Viceroy  dared  not  openly  refer,  that  nine-tenths  of  the 
funds  which  should  have  gone  to  the  upkeep  and  provision- 
ing of  the  Navy  and  the  maintenance  of  the  Coast  Defences, 
had  been  diverted  by  the  Chief  Eunuch  to  the  Palace  (and 
much  of  them  to  his  own  pocket),  so  that  the  ships'  crews 
were  disaffected,  and  their  ordnance  defective,  in  the  hour 
of  need.  Readers  of  Pepys  will  remember  a  very  similar 
state   of  affairs  obtaining   in   the   British  Navy,    happily 


TZtF  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  67 

without  affecting  the  morale  of  its  officers  and  men,  at  a 
similarly  critical  period  of  British  history. 

Li  Lien-ying's  hatred  of  the  Emperor  Kuang-Hsii  was 
beyond  doubt  a  most  important  factor  in  the  coup  d'etat^ 
and  in  the  subsequent  estrangement  and  hostility  between 
Tzu  Hsi  and  the  nominal  ruler  of  the  Empire;  there  are 
not  lacking  those  who  say  that  it  had  much  to  do  with  the 
Emperor's  death,  which  certainly  created  no  surprise  in 
the  capital.  The  eunuch  hated  and  feared  the  Emperor's 
reforming  zeal,  as  well  as  the  Cantonese  advisers  who  in 
1898  came  swarming  to  Peking  as  the  apostles  of  a  new 
dispensation,  and  it  was  therefore  only  natural  that  he 
should  become  the  foremost  adviser  and  partisan  of  the 
reactionaries  and  their  emissary  in  urging  the  Empress  to 
resume  control  of  affairs.  It  is  quite  safe  to  assert  that  had 
his  great  influence  with  Tzu  Hsi  been  exercised  against, 
instead  of  for,  the  Boxers,  had  he  abstained  from  encourag- 
ing her  superstitious  belief  in  their  magic  arts,  the  anti- 
foreign  movement  would  never  have  gone  further  than 
the  borders  of  Shantung,  and  the  Chinese  people  would 
have  been  spared  the  heavy  burden  of  the  indemnities. 
How  interesting  a  study  of  Asiatic  politics  and  Court  life 
presents  itself  in  the  spectacle  of  this  cobbler's  apprentice 
and  his  influence  on  the  destinies  of  so  great  a  race !  See- 
ing him  as  he  was  on  the  day  of  his  mistress's  burial,  how 
bitter  must  have  been  the  innermost  thoughts  of  the  man, 
left  alone  on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  with  the  ill-gotten 
wealth  that  his  country  has  paid  for  so  heavily ! 

At  the  height  of  the  Boxer  crisis  when  the  power  wielded 
by  Li  Lien-ying  was  enormous,  it  was  the  custom  of 
Prince  Tuan,  when  explaining  his  views  to  the  Empress 
Dowager  and  the  Grand  Council,  to  emphasise  the  fact 
that  no  step  had  been  taken  except  with  the  advice  and 
approval  of  the  Chief  Eunuch.  "Such  and  such  a  Decree," 
he  would  say,  "is  issued  with  the  Chief  Chamberlain  Li's 
approval."  His  object  in  so  doing  was  to  head  off  opposi- 
tion, for  he  well  knew  that  few  would  dare  to  oppose  any 
measures  that  the  Chief  Eunuch  approved.  When  Her 
Majesty  granted  rewards  to  the  Boxers  and  offered  head- 


68    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

money  to  the  troops  for  the  killing  of  Europeans,  it  was  at 
Li's  urgent  request  that  she  consented  to  defray  these 
unusual  charges  from  her  Privy  Purse. 

When  the  relieving  forces  drew  near  to  Peking  and  it 
became  clear,  even  to  the  most  obstinate,  that  the  Boxer 
bolt  was  shot,  the  Chief  Eunuch  passed  through  a  period 
of  deep  depression  and  mortification,  not  only  because  of 
the  failure  of  his  prophecies,  but  because  it  was  clear  to  all 
at  Court  that  his  Imperial  mistress,  seeking,  as  was  her 
wont,  a  scapegoat,  was  disposed  to  vent  her  wrath  upon 
him.  Herself  deeply  stirred  by  fear  and  wrath,  it  was  only 
natural  that  she  should  turn  on  him,  who  had  been  fore- 
most in  advising  her  to  follow  the  path  of  destruction. 
On  the  day  when  the  relief  of  the  Legations  took  place, 
Duke  Lan  rushed  headlong  into  the  Palace,  loudly  announ- 
cing that  the  foreign  devils  were  already  within  the  city 
walls.  Tzu  Hsi  turned  on  him  and  asked  how  he  could 
reconcile  such  a  statement  with  his  previous  boasts.  "I 
presume  that  the  devils  have  flown  here,"  said  she,  "for 
you  were  telling  me  only  two  days  ago  of  our  glorious 
victories  near  Tientsin ;  and  yet  all  the  time  you  knew  well, 
as  I  knew,  that  the  Viceroy  and  Li  Ping-heng  were  both 
dead."  Li  Lien-ying,  who  was  standing  close  by,  hearing 
this,  went  out  and  informed  the  trembling  crowd  of 
eunuchs,  adding,  "The  Old  Buddha  is  in  an  unspeakable 
rage.  There  is  nothing  for  it ;  we  must  make  our  escape  and 
retire  into  Shensi.  There  we  will  await  the  arrival  of  our 
reinforcements  which  will  easily  drive  all  these  devils  back 
into  the  sea."  But  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  the  flight 
told  even  more  severely  on  the  Chief  Eunuch  than  on  the  Old 
Buddha  herself,  and  it  was  not  until  the  Court's  safe  estab- 
lishment at  Hsi-an  that  he  recovered  his  self-possession. 

Certain  information  conveyed  by  an  official  of  the 
Household  in  exile  to  a  fellow  provincial  at  Peking,  throws 
considerable  light  on  the  manner  in  which  the  Court  lived 
during  those  troublous  days,  and  the  part  played  in  affairs 
of  State  by  the  Chief  Eunuch  and  Tzu  Hsi's  other 
favourites  of  the  Household.  We  take  the  following 
disconnected  notes  from  this  correspondence. 


TZO  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  69 

When  Ts'en  Ch'un-hsuan  (Governor  of  Shensi)  came  to 
meet  the  court  on  the  Shansi  frontier,  the  Old  Buddha, 
raising  the  curtain  of  her  sedan-chair,  looked  out  and  said 
to  him,  "Have  you  any  idea  of  what  we  have  suffered  in 
Peking?"     "I   do  not  know  all,"   he   replied.     Pointing 
angrily  at   Li,   she  said,  "It  was  all  his  doing;  he   has 
brought  ruin  upon  me."     The  Chief  Eunuch  hung  his 
head,  and  for  once  had  nothing  to  say.    Later  on,  when  the 
fearless  Ts'en  saw  the  eunuchs  under  Li's  orders  merci- 
lessly harassing  the  countryside  in  their  search  for  plunder, 
he  promptly  reported  matters  to  the  Empress  and  obtained 
her  somewhat  reluctant  permission  to  execute  three  of  the 
offenders  on  the  spot.     He  was  sorely  tempted  to  include 
the  Chief  Eunuch  in  the  number  of  his  victims,  but  realis- 
ing how  greatly  Her  Majesty  depended  upon  her  favourite 
attendant,  he  feared  to  run  the  risk  of  inconveniencing  and 
offending   her.     Nevertheless,   Li    had   a   narrow   escape. 
Later  on,  when  Li  had  recovered  his  equanimity,  and  the 
Court  had  settled  down  to  its  usual  routine,  the  eunuch 
revenged  himself  on  the  Governor,  with  the  help  of  Jung 
Lu,   by  having  him  transferred  to  the   Governorship  of 
Shansi.     He  did  this,  not  only  because  the  post  in  Shansi 
was  considered  a  dangerous  one,  owing  to  the  fear  of  pur- 
suit by  the  Allies,  but  because  Ts'en  had  gradually  made 
himself  most  useful  to  Her  Majesty  by  superintending  the 
expenditure  of  her  Household.     The  Governor  was  justly 
famous    throughout    the    Empire    for    his    incorruptible 
honesty,   so  that,    when  placed  in  charge  of  the   Palace 
accounts,  these  speedily  showed  a  very  considerable  re- 
duction in  expenditure.     The  first  result  of  this  regime  was 
to  put  a  stop  to  all  the  "squeeze"  of  the  eunuchs,  and  to 
place  their  salaries  upon  a  definite  and  moderate  basis. 
Ts'en  rapidly  attained  an  intimate  and  confidential  position 
with  Her  Majesty,  to  the  great  and  increasing  wrath  of 
the  Chief  Eunuch,  who  left  no  stone  unturned  to  injure 
him,  and  eventually  succeeded,  with  the  help  of  Jung  Lu, 
in  inducing  Her  Majesty  to  dispense  with  his  personal 
services.     For  over  a  month,   however,  the  Old  Buddha 
spent  hours  daily  discussing  public  and  private  affairs  with 


70    CHINA   UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

this  fearless  and  upright  official,  and  it  would  have  been 
well  for  her  had  she  retained  him  and  others  of  his  quality 
about  her  to  counteract  the  corrupt  tendencies  of  her 
Manchu  clansmen  and  the  eunuchs.  After  Ts'en's  transfer 
to  Shansi,  the  Chief  Eunuch  did  not  scruple  to  suppress 
and  destroy  many  of  the  memorials  which  as  Governor  he 
addressed  to  the  Old  Buddha,  and  which  Li  did  not  desire 
his  mistress  to  see.  Gradually  he  re-established  himself 
as  completely  as  before  in  the  confidence  and  favour  of  his 
mistress,  and  before  the  Court's  return  to  Peking  he  had 
become  if  anything  more  familiarly  arrogant  than  at  any 
previous  stage  in  his  career.  At  audiences  given  to  the 
highest  officials  he  would  even  go  so  far  as  to  refuse  to 
transmit  Her  Majesty's  orders,  bluntly  informing  her  that 
he  was  tired  and  that  there  had  been  enough  public  business 
for  that  day  ! 

The  vast  quantities  of  tribute  levied  by  the  Court  from 
the  Southern  Provinces  at  this  time  were  handled  in  the 
first  instance  by  Li  Lien-ying,  whose  apartments  were 
stacked  with  heaps  of  dragon  robes,  tribute  silk  and  other 
valuables.  Of  all  the  tribute  paid  in  bullion,  the  Empress 
Dowager's  share  was  one-half,  while  the  eunuchs  divided 
one-fifth,  and  the  balance  was  handed  over  to  Jung  Lu  for 
military  purposes  and  his  own  emolument.  So  profitable 
was  the  eunuchs'  business  at  Hsi-an  and  Kai-feng,  that 
Li  Lien-ying  did  his  utmost  to  dissuade  the  Old  Buddha 
from  returning  to  Peking,  endeavouring  to  frighten  her  by 
alarming  prognostications  of  the  vengeance  of  the  foreign 
Powers.  Li's  motives  were  not  entirely  mercenary,  how- 
ever, for  there  is  no  doubt  that  for  a  long  time  he  fully 
expected  to  find  his  own  name  on  the  "black  list"  of  the 
Legations,  and  that  it  fully  deserved  to  figure  there.  He 
directed  the  second  eunuch,  named  Ts'ui,  to  communicate 
to  him  daily  the  latest  news  from  Peking,  and  it  was  only 
when  reassured  by  reports  from  Prince  Ch'ing,  that  his 
courage  returned,  and  his  opposition  to  the  Court's  return 
ceased.  The  conciliatory  attitude,  which  he  eventually 
adopted  towards  the  Empress  Dowager's  reform  policy, 
was  largely  induced  by  the  good  advice  which  he  received 


TZtJ  HSI  AND  THE  EUNUCHS  71 

from  Jung  Lu,  who  strongly  urged  him  to  control  his 
reactionary  opinions  and  violent  temper. 

The  amount  of  tribute  paid  in  silver  to  the  Court  at 
Hsi-an  was  over  five  million  taels,  the  quota  from  each 
Province  being  kept  separate.  The  Chief  Eunuch  was 
assisted  in  the  supervision  of  the  tribute  accounts  by 
another  favourite  of  the  Old  Buddha,  a  eunuch  named  Sun, 
whose  covetousness  and  bullying  methods  of  "squeeze" 
were  almost  equal  to  those  of  his  chief.  On  one  occasion 
the  deputy  in  charge  of  the  tribute  from  Hupei  was  paying 
in  bullion  to  the  Imperial  Household,  and  Sun  was  tally- 
ing the  amounts  with  a  steelyard.  He  said  there  was  a 
shortage.  "That  cannot  be  so,"  said  the  deputy,  "for 
every  shoe  of  Hupei  silver  weighs  fifty  taels  exactly,  so 
that  there  can  be  no  mistake."  The  eunuch  looked  at  him 
insolently,  and  said,  "  How  many  times  have  you  brought 
tribute,  and  what  do  you  know  about  the  customs  of  the 
Court  ?  "  The  frightened  deputy  persisted  that  all  was  in 
order.  Sun  then  said  angrily  :  "I  suppose,  then,  you  mean 
that  the  Old  Buddha's  scales  are  false  ? "  He  was  just 
proceeding  to  assault  the  unfortunate  deputy,  when  the 
Old  Buddha  herself,  overhearing  the  argument  (the  court- 
yards of  her  residence  being  very  small)  came  out  and 
directed  the  eunuch  to  bring  the  silver  into  her  own  apart- 
ments, where  she  would  weigh  it  herself.  "  I  believe  there 
has  been  a  great  deal  of  leakage  lately,"  she  said;  "it  is 
the  business  of  my  eunuchs  to  see  that  I  am  not  cheated." 
The  deputy  took  his  departure,  looking  extremely  crest- 
fallen, but  on  his  way  out  he  was  met  by  Chi  Lu,  the 
Controller  of  the  Household,  who  said  to  him,  "We  all 
know  you  have  been  having  a  bad  time  of  it,  but  you  must 
not  mind.  These  eunuchs  have  been  making  very  little 
money  of  late,  for  the  Old  Buddha  has  been  keeping  a 
very  sharp  watch  on  them ;  you  must  therefore  excuse  them. 
And  they  have  lost  a  great  deal  in  Peking." 

Tribute  of  twenty-four  kinds  was  received  from  Canton, 
but  the  eunuchs  on  their  own  initiative,  and  in  order  to 
compel  largesse,  rejected  nine  different  kinds  of  articles,  so 
that  the  official  in  charge  was  greatly  alarmed,  fearing  that 


72    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

the  Old  Buddha  would  accuse  him  of  having  stolen  the 
things  which  the  eunuchs  refused  to  receive.  This  was  one 
of  their  commonest  methods  of  levying  tribute  on  their  own 
account ;  another  was  to  make  large  purchases  in  the  name 
of  the  Empress,  and  refuse  to  pay  for  them.  Much  hard- 
ship was  inflicted  on  the  people  of  Hsi-an,  and  indeed  of 
the  entire  province,  from  their  depredations,  especially 
because  at  the  time  Shensi  was  already  suffering  from  the 
beginnings  of  famine,  caused  by  the  prolonged  drought. 
It  is  recorded  in  the  accounts  of  the  Governor  Ts'en,  that 
flour  cost  96  cash  a  pound,  eggs  34  cash  apiece,  and  pork 
400  cash  a  pound,  while  fish  was  almost  unobtainable; 
these  prices  being  about  six  times  as  high  as  those  ruling 
in  Southern  China. 

Many  of  the  eunuchs  appeared  to  take  pleasure  in 
humiliating  the  Emperor,  and  subjecting  him  to  petty 
annoyances,  which  often  roused  him  to  petulant  outbursts 
of  temper.  In  one  letter  from  the  Court  at  Hsi-an  it  was 
reported  that  His  Majesty  appeared  to  be  a  little  wrong  in 
the  head,  for  he  would  spend  his  time  playing  foolish 
games,  such  as  hide-and-seek,  with  the  younger  eunuchs, 
until  interrupted  by  the  Empress  Dowager,  when  he  would 
immediately  get  into  a  corner  and  assume  a  sullen  demean- 
our. At  other  times,  when  irritated,  he  would  give  way  to 
violent  fits  of  rage  and  throw  the  household  crockery  at 
the  heads  of  his  attendants.  These  reports  must  be 
received  with  caution,  as  they  were  frequently  spread 
abroad  by  the  Chief  Eunuch  and  members  of  the  reaction- 
ary party  in  order  to  damage  His  Majesty  in  the  eyes  of 
the  outside  world. 

As  above  stated,  after  the  return  of  the  Court  from  its 
journeying  in  the  wilderness  (1902)  Li's  influence  with  the 
Empress  Dowager  was,  if  anything,  greater  than  before, 
all  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Palace  being  under  his  supreme 
control.  Following  Her  Majesty's  example  however,  he 
professed  his  complete  conversion  to  the  necessity  of 
reform,  and  even  gave  his  approval,  after  certain  amend- 
ments had  been  made  by  the  Grand  Council  and  by  him- 
self, to  her  programme  for  the  granting  of  a  Constitution. 


TZIJ  HSI  AND   THE  EUNUCHS  73 

Jesting  with  Her  Majesty  in  his  usual  familiar  manner,  he 
was  heard  on  more  than  one  occasion  to  predict  her  con- 
version to  Christianity.  "We  are  only  sham  devils  now, 
Old  Buddha,"  he  said. 

Nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  advancing  years  and 
infirmity,  he  continued  to  cling  tenaciously  to  the  per- 
quisites and  privileges  of  his  stewardship,  fiercely  defend- 
ing the  eunuch  system  and  his  own  post  by  all  the  means 
(and  they  were  many)  in  his  power.  When,  in  1901,  T'ao 
Mo,  late  Viceroy  of  Canton,  sent  in  his  famous  Memorial 
urging  that,  in  view  of  the  greatly  reduced  number  of  the 
Imperial  concubines,  the  eunuchs  should  be  replaced  by 
female  attendants,  Li  successfully  intrigued  to  prevent  this 
document  reaching  Her  Majesty  until  he  had  taken  effective 
steps  to  prevent  her  being  advised  in  favour  of  the 
suggestion. 

Since  that  day,  there  were  repeated  denunciations  of  the 
eunuch  system,  and  rumours  of  their  impending  removal, 
but  their  influence  showed  little  sign  of  diminution,  and 
officials  of  the  courage  and  integrity  of  T'ao  Mo  were  a 
small  minority  in  the  Mandarinate.  Reform  measures  on 
paper  are  numerous  enough,  measures  forecasting  self- 
denial  and  zeal  for  the  common  good  at  some  future  and 
undetermined  date,  but  it  was  significant  of  the  condition 
of  affairs  and  the  strong  hold  of  the  powers  of  reaction, 
that  the  native  Press  passed  from  its  former  robust  in- 
dependence under  complete  official  control,  and  that  the 
voice  of  Young  China,  which  formerly  denounced  the 
eunuchs  and  other  causes  of  national  degeneration,  was  but 
faintly  heard  in  the  land. 


VI 

MAJORITY  AND  DEATH   OF  THE  EMPEROR  t'uNG-CHIH 

In  the  eleventh  year  of  T'ung-Chih  (November  1872)  the 
Empresses  Dowager,  as  Co-Regents,  issued  a  Decree  re- 
counting the  circumstances  which  had  led  to  the  Regency 
(which  they  once  more  described  as  having  been  thrust 
upon  them),  and  announced  the  fact  that  His  Majesty's 
education  having  been  completed,  they  now  proposed  to 
hand  over  to  him  the  reigns  of  government;  they  there- 
fore directed  that  the  Court  of  Astronomers  should  select 
an  auspicious  day  upon  which  His  Majesty  should  assume 
control.  The  astrologers  and  soothsayers  having  an- 
nounced that  the  26th  day  of  the  ist  Moon  was  of  fortunate 
omen  (wherein,  as  far  as  the  Emperor  was  concerned,  they 
lied),  the  Co-Regents  issued  on  that  day  the  last  Decree 
of  their  first  Regency,  which  is  worth  reproducing  :  — 

"  His  Majesty  assumes  to-day  the  control  of  the  Government, 
and  our  joy  at  this  auspicious  event  is  in  some  degree  blended 
with  feelings  of  anxiety  as  to  the  possible  results  of  this  change ; 
but  we  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  his  sacred  Ancestors  have  all 
feared  the  Almighty,  and  endeavoured  to  follow  in  the  sacred 
traditions  of  their  predecessors.  At  the  moment,  peace  has  not 
been  completely  restored  throughout  the  Empire,  for  rebellion 
is  still  rife  in  Yunnan,  Shensi  and  the  North-West  region.  It 
behoves  the  Emperor  to  bear  steadily  in  mind  the  greatness  of 
the  task  which  God  and  his  ancestors  have  laid  upon  him  alone, 
and  carefully  to  obey  the  House  laws  of  the  Dynasty  in  all  things. 
When  not  actually  engaged  on  business  of  State,  he  should 
employ  his  time  in  studying  the  classics  and  the  precedents  of 
history,  carefully  enquiring  into  the  causes  which  have  produced 
good  or  bad  government,  from  the  earliest  times  down  to  the 
present  day.  He  should  be  thrifty  and  diligent,  endeavouring 
to  make  perfect  his  government.  This  has  been  our  one  con- 
stant endeavour  since  we  took  upon  ourselves  the  Regency,  the 
one  ideal  that  has  been  steadily  before  our  eyes." 

74 


MAJORITY  AND  DEATH  OF  T'UNG-CHIH    75 

The  Decree  concludes  with  the  usual  exhortation  to  the 
Grand  Council  and  the  high  officers  of  the  Provincial 
administration,  to  serve  the  Throne  with  zeal  and  loyalty. 

As  far  as  the  Emperor  was  concerned,  these  admirable 
sentiments  appeared  to  have  little  or  no  effect,  for  his 
conduct  from  the  outset  was  undutiful,  not  to  say  dis- 
respectful, to  his  mother.  Nor  was  this  to  be  wondered 
at,  when  we  remember  that  since  his  early  boyhood  he  had 
shown  a  marked  preference  for  the  Empress  Dowager  of 
the  East  (Tzu  An)  and  that  he  was  well  aware  of  the  many 
dissensions  and  intrigues  rife  in  the  Palace  generally,  and 
particularly  between  the  Co-Regents.  He  had  now  attained 
his  seventeenth  year,  and,  with  it,  something  of  the  auto- 
cratic and  imperious  nature  of  his  august  parent.  He  was 
encouraged  in  his  independent  attitude  by  the  wife  whom 
Tzu  Hsi  had  chosen  for  him,  the  virtuous  A-lu-te.  This 
lady  was  of  patrician  origin,  being  a  daughter  of  the 
assistant  Imperial  tutor,  Ch'ung  Ch*i.  In  the  first  flush  of 
supreme  authority,  the  boy  Emperor  and  his  young  wife 
would  appear  to  have  completely  ignored  the  danger  of 
their  position,  but  they  were  speedily  to  learn  by  bitter 
experience  that  Tzu  Hsi  was  not  to  be  opposed,  and  that 
to  live  peacefully  with  her  in  the  Palace  was  an  end  that 
could  only  be  attained  by  complete  submission  to  her 
will.  The  first  trouble  arose  from  the  Emperor's  refusal 
to  submit  State  documents  for  his  mother's  inspection, 
but  there  were  soon  other  and  more  serious  causes  of 
friction.  But  above  and  behind  all  lay  the  ominous  fact 
that,  in  the  event  of  an  heir  being  born  to  the  Emperor, 
A-lu-te  would  from  that  day  become  Empress  mother, 
and  in  the  event  of  the  Emperor's  subsequent  decease,  to 
her  would  belong  by  right  the  title  of  Empress  Dowager, 
so  that,  come  what  might,  Tzu  Hsi  would  be  relegated  to  a 
position  of  obscurity  and  insignificant  authority.  It  is 
impossible  to  overlook  this  fact  in  forming  our  opinion  of 
subsequent  events,  and  especially  of  the  motives  which 
actuated  the  Empress  Dowager  when,  after  the  death  of 
T'ung-Chih,  she  insisted  on  the  election  of  another  infant 
Emperor  at  all  costs  and  in  violation  of  the  sacred  laws  of 


76     CHINA   UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

Dynastic  succession.  Apart  from  her  inability  to  brook 
any  form  of  opposition  and  her  absolutely  unscrupulous 
methods  for  ridding  herself  of  anything  or  anyone  who 
stood  in  the  path  of  her  ambition,  no  impartial  estimate 
of  her  action  at  this  period  can  deny  the  fact  that  it  was 
entirely  to  her  interest  that  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih 
should  not  have  an  heir,  and  that  his  Consort  should 
follow  him  speedily,  in  the  event  of  his  "mounting  the 
Dragon  chariot,  and  proceeding  on  the  long  journey." 
All  commentators  agree  that  Tzu  Hsi  encouraged  the 
youthful  Emperor's  tendencies  to  dissipated  habits,  and 
that,  when  these  had  resulted  in  a  serious  illness,  she 
allowed  it  to  wreck  havoc  with  his  delicate  constitution, 
without  providing  him  with  such  medical  assistance  as 
might  have  been  available.  One  of  the  members  of  the 
Imperial  Household,  by  name  Kuei  Ching,^  deploring  the 
Emperor's  licentious  habits  and  foreseeing  his  early  death, 
took  occasion  to  urge  that  the  deplorable  influence  exercised 
over  him  by  disreputable  eunuchs  should  be  removed,  and 
that  greater  care  should  be  taken  of  his  manners,  morals 
and  health.  He  even  went  so  far,  in  his  zeal,  as  to  decapi- 
tate several  of  the  offending  eunuchs,  but  in  so  doing  he 
incurred  not  only  the  displeasure  of  the  Empress  Dowager, 
but  of  the  Emperor  himself,  who  desired  neither  criticism 
nor  assistance  from  anyone  around  him.  The  unfortunate 
Kuei  Ching  was  therefore  compelled  to  resign  his  post,  and 
to  leave  the  Emperor  to  his  fate.  His  colleagues,  the 
Ministers  of  the  Household,  Wen  Hsi  and  Kuei  Pao,  men 
of  a  very  different  stamp,  and  open  partisans  of  the 
Empress  Dowager,  not  only  did  nothing  to  restrain  the 
Emperor  from  his  vicious  courses,  but  actually  encouraged 
him,  so  that  it  became  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  and 
notorious  in  the  capital  that  they  and  the  Emperor  together 
were  wont  to  consort  with  all  the  evil  characters  in  the 
worst  localities  of  the  Southern  City.  It  became  cause  for 
scandal  in  the  Palace  itself  that  His  Majesty  would  return 
from  his  orgies  long  after  the  hour  fixed  for  the  morning 

^  This  Kuei  Ching  was  an  uncle  of  Tuan  Fang,  late  Viceroy  of  Chihli 
and  a  man  generally  respected. 


MAJORITY  AND  DEATH  OF  T'UNG  CHIH    ^y 

audience  with  his  high  officers  of  State.  He  was  mixed 
up  in  many  a  drunken  brawl  and  consorted  with  the  lowest 
dregs  of  the  Chinese  city,  so  that  it  was  no  matter  for  sur- 
prise when  he  contracted  the  germs  of  disease  which 
speedily  led  to  his  death.  Already  in  1873  it  was  apparent 
that  the  Dragon  Throne  would  soon  be  vacant.  In 
December  1874,  he  contracted  smallpox  and  during  his 
illness  the  Empresses  Dowager  were  called  upon  to  assume 
control  of  the  Government.  Towards  the  end  of  the  month, 
he  issued  the  following  Decree. 

**  We  have  had  the  good  fortune  ^  this  month  to  contract 
smallpox,  and  their  Majesties,  the  Empresses  Dowager,  have 
shown  the  greatest  possible  tenderness  in  the  care  for  our  person. 
They  have  also  consented  to  peruse  all  Memorials  and  State 
papers  on  our  behalf,  and  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  State, 
for  which  we  are  deeply  grateful.  We  feel  bound  to  confer 
upon  their  Majesties  additional  titles  of  honour,  so  as  to  make 
some  return,  however  small,  for  their  infinite  goodness." 

The  Emperor's  enfeebled  constitution  was  unable  to 
resist  the  ravages  of  his  combined  diseases,  and  his  physical 
condition  became  in  the  highest  degree  deplorable;  at 
8  p.m.  on  the  13th  January  1875,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Empresses  Dowager  and  some  twenty  Princes  and  Ministers 
of  the  Household,  he  "ascended  the  Dragon"  and  was 
wafted  on  high.  Amongst  those  present  at  his  death-bed 
were  the  Princes  Kung  and  Ch'un,  as  well  as  Tzu  Hsi's 
devoted  henchman  and  admirer  Jung  Lu.  After  the  Em- 
peror's death,  a  Censor,  bolder  than  his  fellows,  impeached 
the  two  Ministers  of  the  Household  who  had  openly 
encouraged  the  Emperor  in  his  dissipated  courses,  and 
Tzu  Hsi,  having  no  further  use  for  their  services,  dismissed 
them  from  office.  As  further  proof  of  her  virtuous  admira- 
tion for  faithful  service  and  disinterested  conduct,  she 
invited  Kuei  Ching  to  resume  his  appointment,  praising  his 
loyalty;  but  he  declined  the  invitation,  having  by  this  time 
formed  his  own  opinion  of  the  value  of  virtue  in  Her 
Majesty's  service. 

^  This  disease  is  regarded  amongst  the  Chinese  as  one  of  good  omen, 
especially  if  the  symptoms  develop  satisfactorily. 


78    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

The  Emperor  having  died  without  issue,  all  would  have 
been  plain  and  meritorious  sailing  for  Tzu  Hsi  and  her 
retention  of  supreme  power,  had  it  not  been  for  the  un- 
pleasant fact,  known  to  all  the  Court,  that  the  Emperor's 
consort,  A-lu-te,  was  enceinte  and  therefore  might  confer 
an  heir  on  the  deceased  sovereign.  In  the  event  of  a  son 
being  born,  it  was  clear  that  both  A-lu-te  and  Tzu  An 
would  ipso  facto  acquire  authority  theoretically  higher  than 
her  own,  since  her  title  of  Empress  Mother  had  lapsed  by 
the  death  of  T'ung-Chih,  and  her  original  position  was 
only  that  of  a  secondary  consort.  As  the  mother  of  the 
Emperor,  she  had  by  right  occupied  a  predominant  position 
during  his  minority,  but  this  was  now  ended.  It  was  to 
her  motherhood  that  she  had  owed  the  first  claims  to  power ; 
now  she  had  nothing  but  her  own  boundless  ambition, 
courage  and  intelligence  to  take  the  place  of  lawful  claims 
and  natural  ties.  With  the  death  of  her  son  the  Emperor, 
and  the  near  prospect  of  A-lu-te's  confinement,  it  was  clear 
that  her  own  position  would  require  desperate  remedies, 
if  her  power  was  to  remain  undiminished. 

Among  the  senior  members  of  the  Imperial  Clan,  many 
of  whom  were  jealous  of  the  influence  of  the  Yehonala 
branch,  there  was  a  strong  movement  in  favour  of  placing 
on  the  Throne  a  grandson  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  venerated 
Emperor  Tao-Kuang,  namely,  the  infant  Prince  P'u  Lun, 
whose  claims  were  excellent,  in  so  far  as  he  was  of  a 
generation  lower  than  the  deceased  T'ung-Chih,  but  com- 
plicated by  the  fact  that  his  father  had  been  adopted  into 
the  direct  line  from  another  branch.  The  Princes  and 
nobles  who  favoured  this  choice  pointed  out  that  the  infant 
P'u  Lun  was  almost  the  only  nominee  who  would  satisfy 
the  laws  of  succession  and  allow  of  the  proper  sacrifices 
being  performed  to  the  spirit  of  the  deceased  T'ung-Chih.^ 

Tzu  Hsi,  however,  was  too  determined  to  retain  her 
position  and  power  to  allow  any  weight  to  attach  to  senti- 

^  The  annual  and  seasonal  sacrifices  at  the  ancestral  Temple  and  at 
the  Imperial  tombs  involve  "  kotowing  "  before  each  tablet  of  the  sacred 
ancestors,  and  this  cannot  be  done  in  the  presence  of  one  of  the  same 
generation  as  the  last  deceased,  much  less  by  him. 


MAJORITY  AND  DEATH  OF  T'UNG-CHIH      79 

mental,  religious,  or  other  considerations.  If,  in  order  to 
secure  her  objects,  a  violation  of  the  ancestral  and  House- 
laws  were  necessary,  she  was  not  the  woman  to  hesitate,  and 
she  trusted  to  her  own  intelligence  and  the  servility  of  her 
tools  in  the  Censorate  to  put  matters  right,  or,  at  least,  to 
overcome  all  opposition.  At  this  period  she  was  on  bad 
terms  with  her  colleague  and  Co-Regent,  whom  she  had 
never  forgiven  for  her  share  in  the  decapitation  of  her  Chief 
Eunuch,  An  Te-hai ;  she  hated  and  mistrusted  Prince 
Kung,  and  there  is  hardly  a  doubt  that  she  had  resolved  to 
get  rid  of  the  young  Empress  A-lu-te  before  the  birth  of 
her  child.  The  only  member  of  the  Imperial  family  with 
whom  she  was  at  this  time  on  intimate  terms  was  her 
brother-in-law.  Prince  Ch'un,  the  seventh  son  of  the 
Emperor  Tao-Kuang.  This  Prince,  an  able  man,  though 
dissolute  in  his  habits,  had  married  her  favourite  sister, 
the  younger  Yehonala,  and  it  will,  therefore,  be  readily 
understood  that  the  reasons  which  actuated  her  in  deciding 
to  place  this  Prince's  infant  son  upon  the  Throne  were 
of  the  very  strongest.  During  his  minority  she  would 
continue  to  rule  the  Empire,  and,  should  he  live  to  come 
of  age,  her  sister,  the  Emperor's  mother,  might  be  expected 
to  exert  her  influence  to  keep  him  in  the  path  of  dutiful 
obedience.  Tzu  Hsi's  objection  to  the  son  of  Prince  Kung 
was  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  she  had  never  forgiven  his 
father  for  his  share  in  the  death  of  the  eunuch.  An  Te-hai, 
and  other  offences,  and  partly  because  the  young  Prince 
was  now  in  his  seventeenth  year,  and  would,  therefore, 
almost  immediately  have  assumed  the  Government  in  his 
own  person.  Tzu  Hsi  was  aware  that,  in  that  event,  it 
would  be  in  accordance  with  tradition  and  the  methods 
adopted  by  the  stronger  party  in  the  Forbidden  City  for 
ridding  itself  of  inconvenient  rivals  and  conflicting  authori- 
ties, that  either  she  should  be  relegated  to  complete 
obscurity  here  below,  or  forcibly  assisted  on  the  road  to 
Heaven.  It  was  thus  absolutely  necessary  for  her  to  put 
a  stop  to  this  appointment,  and,  as  usual,  she  acted  with 
prompt  thoroughness,  which  speedily  triumphed  over  the 
disorganised  efforts  of  her  opponents.     By  adroit  intrigues. 


8o    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

exercised  chiefly  through  her  favourite  eunuch,  she  headed 
off  any  attempt  to  co-operation  between  the  supporters  of 
Prince  P'u  Lun  and  those  of  Prince  Kung,  while,  with 
the  aid  of  Jung  Lu  and  the  appearance  on  the  scene  of  a 
considerable  force  of  Li  Hung-chang's  Anhui  troops,  she 
prepared  the  way  for  the  success  of  her  own  plans;  her 
preparations  made,  she  summoned  a  Council  of  the  Clans- 
men and  high  officials,  to  elect  and  appoint  the  new 
Emperor. 

This  solemn  conclave  took  place  in  the  Palace  of  "Mind 
Nurture,"  on  the  western  side  of  the  Forbidden  City,  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  from  the  palace  in  which  the 
Emperor  T'ung-Chih  had  expired.  In  addition  to  the 
Empresses  Regent,  those  present  numbered  twenty-five  in 
all,  including  several  Princes  and  Imperial  Clansmen,  the 
members  of  the  Grand  Council,  and  several  of  the  highest 
metropolitan  officials;  but  of  all  these,  only  five  were 
Chinese.  Prince  Tsai  Chih,  the  father  of  Prince  P'u  Lun, 
was  there,  as  well  as  Prince  Kung,  both  representing  the 
proposed  legitimate  claims  to  the  Throne.  The  approaches 
to  the  Palace  were  thronged  with  eunuchs,  and  Tzu  Hsi 
had  taken  care,  with  the  assistance  of  Jung  Lu,  that  all 
the  strategical  points  in  the  Forbidden  City  should  be  held 
by  troops  on  whose  loyalty  she  could  completely  depend. 
Amongst  them  were  many  of  Jung  Lu's  own  Banner 
Corps,  as  well  as  detachments  chiefly  composed  of  members 
and  adherents  of  the  Yehonala  clan.  By  Tzu  Hsi's  express 
orders,  the  newly-widowed  Empress  A-lu-te  was  excluded 
from  the  Council  meeting,  and  remained  dutifully  weeping 
by  the  bedside  of  her  departed  lord,  who  had  already  been 
arrayed  in  the  ceremonial  Dragon  robes. 

In  the  Council  Chamber  Tzu  Hsi  and  her  colleague  sat 
opposite  to  each  other  on  Thrones ;  all  the  officials  present 
were  on  their  knees.  Taking  precedence  as  usual,  and 
assuming  as  of  right  the  role  of  chief  speaker,  Tzu  Hsi 
began  by  remarking  that  no  time  must  be  lost  in  selecting 
the  new  Emperor ;  it  was  not  fitting  that  the  Throne  should 
remain  vacant  on  the  assumption  that  an  heir  would  be 
born  to  His  late  Majesty.     Prince  Kung  ventured  to  dis- 


MAJORITY  AND  DEATH  OF  T'UNG  CHIH     8i 

agree  with  this  opinion,  expressing  the  view  that,  as 
A-lu-te's  child  would  shortly  be  born,  there  should  be  no 
difficulty  in  keeping  back  the  news  of  the  Emperor's  death 
for  a  little  while;  the  child,  if  a  boy,  could  then  rightly 
and  fittingly  be  placed  on  the  Throne,  while  in  the  event 
of  the  posthumous  child  being  a  daughter,  there  would 
still  be  time  enough  to  make  selection  of  the  Emperor's 
successor.  The  Princes  and  Clansmen  appeared  to  side 
with  this  view,  but  Tzu  Hsi  brushed  it  aside,  observing 
that  there  were  still  rebellions  unsuppressed  in  the  south, 
and  that  if  it  were  known  that  the  Throne  was  empty,  the 
Dynasty  might  very  well  be  overthrown.  "When  the  nest 
is  destroyed,  how  many  eggs  will  remain  unbroken  ?  "  she 
asked.  The  Grand  Councillors  and  several  senior  states- 
men, including  the  three  Chinese  representatives  from  the 
south,  expressed  agreement  with  this  view,  for  they  realised 
that,  given  conditions  of  unrest,  the  recently  active  Taip- 
ing  rebels  might  very  easily  renew  the  anti-Dynastic 
movement. 

The  Empress  Dowager  of  the  East  then  gave  it  as  her 
opinion  that  Prince  Kung's  son  should  be  chosen  heir  to 
the  Throne ;  Prince  Kung,  in  accordance  with  the  custom- 
ary etiquette,  kotowed  and  professed  unwillingness  that 
such  honour  should  fall  to  his  family,  and  suggested  that 
the  youthful  Prince  P'u  Lun  should  be  elected.  P'u  Lun's 
father  in  turn  pleaded  the  unworthiness  of  his  offspring,  not 
because  he  really  felt  any  qualms  on  the  subject,  but  be- 
cause custom  necessitated  this  self-denying  attitude.  "That 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  case,"  said  Tzu  Hsi  to  the 
last  speaker,  "but  as  you  are  only  the  adopted  son  of  Yi 
Wei"  (the  eldest  son  of  the  Emperor  Tao-Kuang)  "what 
precedent  can  any  of  you  show  for  placing  on  the  Throne 
the  heir  of  an  adopted  son  ?  "  Prince  Kung,  called  upon 
to  reply,  hesitated,  and  suggested  as  a  suitable  precedent 
the  case  of  a  Ming  Emperor  of  the  fifteenth  century  canon- 
ised as  Ying-Tsung.  "That  is  a  bad  precedent,"  replied 
the  Empress,  who  had  every  instance  of  history  at  her 
finger  ends.  "The  Emperor  Ying-Tsung  was  not  really 
the  son  of  his  predecessor,   but  was  palmed  off  on  the 

G 


82    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

Emperor  by  one  of  the  Imperial  concubines.  His  reign 
was  a  period  of  disaster;  he  was  for  a  time  in  captivity 
under  the  Mongols  and  afterwards  lived  in  retirement  at 
Peking  for  eight  years  while  the  Throne  was  occupied  by 
his  brother."  Turning  next  to  her  colleague  she  said, 
"As  for  me,  I  propose  as  heir  to  the  Throne,  Tsai  Tien, 
the  son  of  Yi  Huan  (Prince  Ch'un),  and  advise  you  all 
that  we  lose  no  time."  On  hearing  these  words  Prince 
Kung  turned  to  his  brother  and  angrily  remarked  :  "Is  the 
right  of  primogeniture  ^  to  be  completely  ignored  ?  "  "  Let 
the  matter  then  be  decided  by  taking  a  vote,"  said  Tzu 
Hsi,  and  her  colleague  offered  no  objections.  The  result 
of  the  vote  was  that  seven  of  the  Princes,  led  by  Prince 
.I^h'un,  voted  for  Prince  P'u  Lun,  and  three  for  the  son 
of  Prince  Kung ;  the  remainder  of  the  Council  voted  solidly 
for  Tzu  Hsi's  nominee.  The  voting  was  done  openly  and 
the  result  was  entirely  due  to  the  strong  will  and  dominat- 
mg  personality  of  the  woman  whom  all  had  for  years 
recognised  as  the  real  ruler  of  China.  When  the  voting 
was  concluded,  Tzu  An,  who  was  always  more  anxious  for 
an  amicable  settlement  than  for  prolonged  discussion,  in- 
timated her  willingness  to  leave  all  further  arrangements 
in  the  hands  of  her  colleague.  It  was  now  past  nine 
o'clock,  a  furious  dust-storm  was  raging  and  the  night  was 
bitterly  cold,  but  Tzu  Hsi,  who  never  wasted  time  at 
moments  of  crisis,  ordered  a  strong  detachment  of  House- 
hold troops  to  be  sent  to  the  residence  of  Prince  Ch'un 
in  the  Western  City,  and  with  it  the  Imperial  yellow  sedan 
chair  with  eight  bearers,  to  bring  the  boy  Emperor  to 
the  Palace.  At  the  same  time,  to  keep  Prince  Kung  busy 
and  out  of  harm's  way,  she  gave  him  charge  of  the  body 
of  the  dead  Emperor,  while  she  had  the  Palace  surrounded 
and  strongly  guarded  by  Jung  Lu's  troops.  It  was  in  her 
careful  attention  to  details  of  this  kind  that  lay  her  marked 
superiority  to  the  vacillating  and  unbusinesslike  methods 
of  those  who  opposed  her,  and  it  is  this  Napoleonic  charac- 
teristic of  the  woman  which  explains  much  of  the  success 

^  Prince  Kung  was  the  sixth,  Prince  Ch'un  the  seventh,  in  order  of 
seniority. 


MAJORITY  AND  DEATH  OF  T'UNG   CHIH     83 

that  her  own  people  frequently  attributed  to  luck.  Before 
midnight  the  little  Emperor  had  been  duly  installed  in  the 
Palace,  weeping  bitterly  upon  his  ill-omened  coming  to  the 
Forbidden  City.  With  him  came  his  mother  (Tzu  Hsi's 
sister)  and  several  nurses.  The  first  event  of  his  reign, 
imposed  upon  him,  like  much  future  misery,  by  dynastic 
precedent,  was  to  be  taken  at  once  to  the  Hall  where  his 
deceased  predecessor  was  lying  in  State,  and  there  to  "ko- 
tow," as  well  as  his  tender  years  permitted,  before  the 
departed  ruler.  A  Decree  was  thereupon  issued  in  the 
names  of  the  Empresses  Dowager,  who  thus  became  once 
more  Regents,  announcing,  "that  they  were  absolutely 
compelled  to  select  Tsai  Tien  for  the  Throne,  and  that  he 
should  become  heir  by  adoption  to  his  uncle  Hsien-Feng, 
but  that,  so  soon  as  he  should  have  begotten  a  son,  the 
Emperor  T'ung-Chih  would  at  once  be  provided  with  an 
heir." 

By  this  means  the  widowed  Empress  A-lu-te  was  com- 
pletely passed  over,  and  the  claims  of  her  posthumous  aRoUt^^c  ^^ 
son  ignored  in  advance.  Once  more  Tzu  Hsi  had  gained '^^'^"^^^'^'^'^^"^ 
an  easy  and  complete  victory.  It  was  clear  to  those  who 
left  the  Council  Chamber  after  the  issue  of  this  Decree, 
that  neither  the  young  widowed  Empress  nor  the  unborn 
child  of  T'ung-Chih  were  likely  to  give  much  more 
trouble. 

For  form's  sake,  and  in  accordance  with  dynastic  pre- 
cedents, a  Memorial  was  submitted  by  all  the  Ministers  and 
Princes  of  the  Household,  begging  their  Majesties  the 
Empresses  to  resume  the  Regency,  who,  on  their  part, 
went  through  the  farce  of  acceding  graciously  to  this 
request,  on  the  time-honoured  ground  that  during  the 
Emperor's  minority  there  must  be  some  central  authority 
to  whom  the  officials  of  the  Empire  might  look  for  the 
necessary  guidance.  It  was  only  fitting  and  proper,  how- 
ever, that  reluctance  should  be  displayed,  and  Tzu  Hsi's 
reply  to  the  Memorial  therefore  observed  that  "the  perusal 
of  this  Memorial  has  greatly  increased  our  grief  and 
sorrowful  recognition  of  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  for 
we  had  hoped  that  the  Regency  was  merely  a  temporary 


84    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

measure  of  unusual  expediency.  Be  it  known  that  so  soon 
as  the  Emperor  shall  have  completed  his  education,  we 
shall  immediately  hand  over  to  him  the  affairs  of  the 
Government." 

The  infant  Emperor  was  understood  to  express  "dutiful 
thanks  to  their  Majesties  for  this  virtuous  act "  and  all  the 
formalities  of  the  tragic  comedy  were  thus  completed.  The 
Empress  Dowager  gave  orders  that  the  repairs  which  had 
been  begun  at  the  Lake  and  Summer  Palaces  should  now  be 
stopped,  the  reason  given  being  that  the  Empresses  Regent 
would  have  no  time  nor  desire  for  gaiety  in  the  years  to 
come ;  the  real  reason  being,  however,  that  the  death  of  the 
Emperor  removed  all  necessity  for  their  Majesties  leaving 
the  Forbidden  City. 

Tzu  Hsi's  success  in  forcing  her  wishes  upon  the  Grand 
Council  and  having  her  sister's  infant  son  appointed  to  the 
Imperial  succession,  in  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  a  power- 
ful party  and  in  violation  of  the  dynastic  law,  was  entirely 
due  to  her  energy  and  influence.  The  charm  of  her  person- 
ality, and  the  convincing  directness  of  her  methods  were 
more  effective  than  all  the  forces  of  tradition.  This  fact, 
and  her  triumph,  become  the  more  remarkable  when  we 
bear  in  mind  that  she  had  been  advised,  and  the  Grand 
Council  was  aware,  that  the  infant  Emperor  suffered  from 
physical  weaknesses  which,  even  at  that  date,  rendered  it 
extremely  unlikely  that  he  would  ever  provide  an  heir  to 
the  Throne.  Those  who  criticised  her  selection,  knowing 
this,  would  have  been  therefore  in  a  strong  position  had 
they  not  been  lacking  in  courage  and  decision,  since  it  was 
clear,  if  the  fact  were  admitted,  that  Her  Majesty's  only 
possible  motive  was  personal  ambition. 

From  that  time  until  the  death  of  the  Emperor  and  her 
own,  on  the  14th  and  15th  November  1908,  the  belief  was 
widespread,  and  not  infrequently  expressed,  that  the  Em- 
peror, whose  reign  began  thus  inauspiciously,  would  not 
survive  her,  and  there  were  many  who  predicted  that  his 
death  would  occur  before  the  time  came  for  him  to  assume 
supreme  control  of  the  Government.  All  foretold  that  Tzu 
Hsi  would  survive  him,  for  the  simple  reason  that  only  thus 


MAJORITY  AND  DEATH  OF  T'UNG  CHIH     85 

could  she  hope  to  regulate  once  more  the  succession  and 
continue  the  Regency.  The  prophets  of  evil  were  wrong, 
as  we  know,  inasmuch  as  Kuang-Hsli  was  allowed  his 
years  of  grace  in  control  of  affairs,  but  we  know  also  that 
after  the  coup  d'etat  it  was  only  the  fear  of  an  insurrection 
in  the  south  that  saved  his  life  and  prevented  the  accession 
of  a  new  boy  Emperor. 

The  designation  of  the  new  reign  was  then  ordered  to  be 
*' Kuang-Hsu,"  meaning  "glorious  succession";  it  was 
chosen  to  emphasise  the  fact  that  the  new  Emperor  was 
a  direct  lineal  descendant  of  the  last  great  Manchu  Em- 
peror, Tao-Kuang,  and  to  suggest  the  hope  that  the  evil 
days  of  Hsien-Feng  and  T'ung-Chih  had  come  to  an  end. 
The  next  act  of  the  Empresses  Regent  was  to  confer  an 
honorific  title  upon  the  late  Emperor's  widow;  but  the 
honour  was  not  sufficient  to  prevent  her  from  committing 
suicide  on  the  27th  of  March  as  an  act  of  protest  at  the 
grievous  wrong  done  to  her,  to  the  memory  of  her  husband 
and  to  the  claims  of  his  posthumous  heir.  This  was  the 
unofficial  explanation  current,  but  opinions  have  always 
differed,  and  must  continue  to  differ,  as  to  the  truth  of  the 
suicide,  there  being  many  who,  not  unnaturally,  accused 
Tzu  Hsi  of  putting  an  end  to  the  unfortunate  woman. 
Against  this  the  Empress's  advocates  observe  that,  having 
succeeded  in  obtaining  the  appointment  of  Kuang-Hsli  to 
the  Throne,  and  the  matter  being  irrevocably  settled,  there 
existed  no  further  necessity  for  any  act  of  violence :  but 
few,  if  any,  suggest  that  had  circumstances  necessitated 
violent  measures  they  would  not  have  been  taken.  The 
balance  of  evidence  is  undoubtedly  in  the  direction  of  foul 
play.  But,  however  administered,  it  is  certain  that  the 
death  of  the  Empress  A-lu-te  influenced  public  opinion 
more  profoundly  than  she  could  ever  have  done  by  living ; 
as  a  result,  thousands  of  Memorials  poured  in  from  the 
Censorate  and  the  provinces,  strongly  protesting  against 
the  selection  of  the  infant  son  of  Prince  Ch'un  for  the 
Throne,  as  a  violation  of  all  ancestral  custom  and  the  time- 
honoured  laws  of  succession.  It  is  significant  that  all  these 
protests  were  clearly  directed  against  Tzu  Hsi,  her  col- 


86    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

league's  nonentity  being  practically  and  generally  recog- 
nised. For  a  time  Tzu  Hsi's  popularity  (and  therefore 
the  position  of  the  Yehonala  clan)  was  seriously  affected, 
and  when,  four  years  later,  the  Censor,  Wu  K'o-tu,  com- 
mitted suicide  near  T'ung-Chih's  grave  to  emphasise  the 
seriousness  of  the  crime  and  to  focus  public  attention  on 
the  matter,  the  Empress  was  compelled  to  bow  to  the  storm 
and  to  give  a  second  and  more  solemn  pledge  that  the 
deceased  Emperor  should  not  permanently  be  left  without 
heirs  to  perform  for  him  the  sacrifices  of  ancestral  worship. 
It  will  be  seen  hereafter  how  she  kept  that  pledge. 

Prince  Ch'un,  in  the  capacity  of  father  to  the  new 
Emperor,  submitted  a  Memorial  asking  leave  to  be  per- 
mitted to  resign  his  various  ofiRces,  because,  as  an  official, 
he  would  be  bound  to  "kotow"  to  the  Emperor,  and  as  a 
father  he  could  not  "kotow  '*  to  his  own  son.  In  the  cause 
of  this  Memorial,  which  reminds  the  reader  unpleasantly  of 
Mr.  Pecksniff,  the  Prince  observes  that  when  first  informed 
of  his  son's  selection  as  heir  to  the  Dragon  Throne,  "he 
almost  fainted  and  knew  not  what  to  do.  When  borne  to 
his  home,  his  body  was  trembling  and  his  heart  palpitating 
severely ;  like  a  madman,  or  one  who  walks  in  dreams,  was 
he,  so  that  he  incurred  a  serious  recurrence  of  his  liver 
trouble  and  the  state  of  his  health  became  really  a  matter 
for  anxiety.  He  would  prefer  that  the  silent  tomb  should 
close  forthwith  over  his  remains  rather  than  to  continue 
to  draw  the  breath  of  life  as  the  useless  son  of  the  Emperor 
Tao-Kuang." 

The  Empress  Dowager,  in  reply,  directed  her  faithful 
Ministers  to  devise  a  careful  compromise  "based  on  the 
special  requirements  of  the  case,"  the  result  of  which  was 
that  Prince  Ch'un  was  permitted  to  resign  his  offices  and 
excused  from  attendance  at  all  Court  ceremonies  involving 
obeisance  to  the  Emperor,  but  was  retained  in  a  sort  of 
general  capacity  as  "adviser  to  the  Empresses  Regent"  to 
serve  when  called  upon.  On  the  birthdays  of  the  Em- 
presses Regent,  he  would  be  permitted  to  prostrate  himself 
before  them  in  private,  and  not  as  a  member  of  the  Court 
in  attendance  on  the  Emperor.     His  first  class  Princedom 


MAJORITY  AND  DEATH  OF  T'UNG  CHIH      87 

was  made  hereditary  for  ever,  and  he  was  commanded 
to  give  the  benefit  of  his  experience  and  sage  counsel  to 
his  successor,  Prince  Tun,  as  officer  commanding  the 
Manchu  Field  Force — an  order  which  he  must  have  obeyed, 
for  the  Force  in  question  became  more  and  more  notorious 
for  its  tatterdemalion  uselessness  and  the  corruption  of  its 
commanders. 

Remembering  the  institution  of  the  first  Regency,  it  will 
be  noted  how  faithfully  history  here  repeats  itself. 


VII 

THE   PROTEST  AND   SUICIDE   OF   WU   k'O-TU 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  T'ung-Chih's  young 
widow,  the  validity  of  the  Imperial  succession  and  the 
violation  of  all  traditions  which  Tzu  Hsi  had  committed, 
became  a  matter  of  grave  concern  to  the  conservative  and 
more  conscientious  supporters  of  the  Dynasty.  The  first 
evidence  of  dissatisfaction  was  contained  in  a  Memorial 
submitted  by  a  Manchu  sub-Chancellor  of  the  Grand 
Secretariat  who,  while  accepting  the  situation  as  it  stood 
in  regard  to  the  boy  Emperor,  Kuang-Hsii,  stipulated 
that  safeguards  or  guarantees  should  be  given  by  the 
Throne  for  the  eventual  regulation  of  the  succession  and 
for  the  provision  of  heirs  to  His  orbate  Majesty,  T'ung- 
Chih. 

Tzu  Hsi  was  becoming  decidedly  irritable  on  this  subject 
of  the  succession,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  her 
own  conscience  and  the  views  of  patriotic  Memorialists 
came  to  much  the  same  conclusion.  The  Rescript  which 
she  issued  on  the  present  occasion  was  short,  sharp,  and 
suggestive  of  temper  :  — 

"We  have  already  issued  an  absolutely  clear  Decree  on  this 
subject,"  she  said,  "providing  for  an  heir  to  the  late  Emperor, 
and  the  Decree  has  been  published  all  over  the  Empire.  The 
Memorialist's  present  request  gives  evidence  of  unspeakable 
audacity  and  an  inveterate  habit  of  fault-finding,  which  has 
greatly  enraged  us,  so  that  we  hereby  convey  to  him  a  stern 
rebuke." 

The  Memorials  and  remonstrances  of  many  high  officials 
emphasised  the  seriousness  of  this  question  of  the  legi- 
timacy of  the  Imperial  succession  to  the  nation  at  large, 
and  its  profound  effect  on  the  fundamental  principles  of 

88 


THE  PROTEST  AND  SUICIDE  OF  WU   K'O-TU    89 

ancestor  worship.  Nevertheless,  having  delivered  their 
souls,  the  Mandarinate,  led  by  the  Peking  Boards,  were 
disposed  to  acquiesce  in  the  fait  accompli;  in  any  case, 
there  was  no  sign  of  organised  opinion  in  opposition  to 
the  will  of  the  Empress  Dowager.  The  irregularity  was 
evidently  serious,  and  Heaven  would  doubtless  visit  the 
sins  of  the  Throne,  as  usual,  on  the  unoffending  '*  stupid 
people";  but  the  individualism  and  mutual  suspicion,  that 
peculiarly  distinguish  the  Chinese  official  world,  precluded 
all  idea  of  concerted  action  or  remedial  measures. 

One  official,  however,  had  the  full  courage  of  his  con- 
victions, and,  by  the  time-honoured  expedient  of  self- 
destruction,  focussed  the  attention  of  the  nation  on  the 
gravity  of  the  question,  as  no  amount  of  fine  writing  could 
have  done.  Resort  to  suicide  by  indignant  patriots,  as  a 
proof  of  their  sincere  distress,  is  a  practice  praised  and 
justified  alike  by  historians  in  China  and  Japan,  and  there 
is  no  denying  that,  as  an  argument  against  all  forms  of 
despotism,  it  has  the  crowning  merit  of  finality.  It  has, 
moreover,  certain  qualities  of  deliberate  courage  and 
cultured  philosophy  that  bring  irresistibly  to  mind  the 
Roman  patrician  at  his  best,  and  which  fully  account  for 
the  distinction  which  such  a  death  confers  amongst  a 
people  that  loves  its  orthodoxies,  as  it  loves  peace, 
undisturbed. 

The  name  which  will  go  down  in  Chinese  history,  as  the 
defender  of  the  national  and  true  faith  in  connection  with 
the  illegal  succession  of  the  infant  Emperor  Kuang-Hsii, 
is  that  of  the  Censor,  Wu  K'o-tu,  an  upright  and  fearless 
scholar  of  the  best  type.  For  the  reasons  stated  in  his 
farewell  Memorial,  he  waited  four  years  after  the  death 
of  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih,  hoping  against  hope  that  the 
wide-spread  dissatisfaction  of  the  literati  and  officials  would 
take  definite  form,  and  lead  the  Empress  Dowager  to 
regulate  the  future  succession,  and  to  placate  the  dis- 
inherited ghost  of  T'ung-Chih,  by  the  issue  of  a  new 
Decree.  Disappointed  in  this  hope,  he  seized  the  classi- 
cally correct  occasion  of  the  late  Emperor's  funeral  (1879) 
to  commit  suicide   near  his  grave,  taking  care   to  leave 


90    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

behind  him  a  swan-song  which,  as  he  knew,  will  live  long 
in  the  memory  of  scholars  and  officials  throughout  the 
Empire.  His  death  had  the  immediate  effect  of  convincing 
Tzu  Hsi  of  error.  Realising  the  strength  of  public  opinion 
underlying  the  Censor's  protest,  she  endeavoured  at  once 
to  placate  his  accusing  spirit  by  giving  the  pledges  for 
which  he  had  pleaded,  in  regard  to  provision  in  the  future 
of  a  successor  to  T'ung-Chih.  Nor  was  it  on  this  occasion 
only  that  the  death  of  Wu  K'o-tu  influenced  her  actions 
and  disturbed  her  superstitious  mind.  In  after  years,  and 
especially  at  the  time  of  the  flight  to  Hsi-an,  she  recog- 
nised his  influence,  and  the  punishment  of  her  misdeed,  in 
the  disasters  which  had  overtaken  the  Throne. 

As  an  example  of  the  principles  of  action,  and  the  calm 
frame  of  mind  which  are  the  fine  flower  of  the  Confucian 
system  of  philosophy,  and,  therefore,  worthy  of  our  close 
and  sympathetic  study,  we  give  the  full  story  of  the  death 
of  this  patriotic  protestant,  as  well  as  a  translation  of  his 
Memorial. 

His  suicide  took  place  in  a  small  temple  at  Ma-shen 
ch'iao,  close  to  the  mausoleum  of  T'ung-Chih.  His 
minutely  detailed  instructions  for  the  disposal  of  his 
remains,  with  the  least  possible  trouble  to  his  family  and 
friends,  bespeak  the  gentleman  and  the  scholar.  To  the 
priest  in  charge  of  the  shrine,  a  "bad  man,"  he  addressed 
the  following  characteristic  letter : — 

"Priest  Chou,  be  not  afraid.  I  have  no  desire  to  bring  evil 
upon  you.  I  was  compelled  to  borrow  the  use  of  your  plot  of 
hallowed  ground,  as  a  spot  appropriate  for  the  death  of  an  honest 
man.  Inform  now  the  Magistrate  at  once,  and  see  that  the 
Memorial  enclosed  in  my  despatch  box  is  forwarded  without 
delay.  Buy  for  me  a  cheap  coffin  and  have  it  painted  black 
inside.  My  clothes  are  all  in  order,  only  the  leather  soles  of  my 
boots  require  to  be  cut  off  before  you  lay  me  in  my  coffin.  I 
have  cut  my  finger  slightly,  which  accounts  for  the  blood  stains 
that  you  may  notice.  Twenty  taels  will  be  ample  for  my  coffin. 
I  should  not  think  that  the  Magistrate  will  need  to  hold  an 
inquest.  Please  have  a  coating  of  lacquer  put  on  the  coffin,  to 
fill  up  any  cracks  in  the  joints,  and  have  it  nailed  down,  pending 
the  Empresses'  decision  as  to  my  remains.  Then,  buy  a  few 
feet  of  ground  adjoining  the  late  Emperor's  tomb,  and  have  me 


THE  PROTEST  AND  SUICIDE  OF  WU  K'O-TU    91 

buried  quickly.^  There  is  no  need  for  me  to  be  buried  in  my 
ancestral  cemetery ;  any  spot  is  a  good  enough  resting  place 
for  a  loyal  and  honest  man. 

"You  will  find  forty-five  taels  in  my  box,  of  which  you  may 
keep  the  balance  after  paying  for  my  coffin  and  burial  expenses. 
As  to  my  watch,  and  the  other  articles  on  my  person,  it  is 
known  at  my  home  exactly  what  I  brought  here  with  me.  You 
must  see  to  it  that  no  one  is  permitted  to  insult  my  corpse,  and 
my  son  will  be  deeply  grateful  to  you  for  performing  these  last 
offices  for  me,  in  his  place.  You  need  not  fear  that  the  Magis- 
trate's underlings  will  make  trouble  for  you,  but  be  careful  not 
to  tamper  with  the  box  containing  my  Memorial  to  the 
Empresses. 

"You  can  cut  my  body  down  to-morrow  morning,  and  then 
have  it  placed  in  some  cool  and  shady  spot.  Fearing  that 
possibly  you  might  come  in  by  accident  and  find  me  hanging, 
I  have  taken  a  dose  of  opium,  so  as  to  make  certain  of  death. 
If  you  should  dare  to  meddle  with  my  private  affairs,  as  you 
have  been  trying  to  do  these  past  few  days,  it  will  only  lead  to 
your  being  mixed  up  in  the  case,  which  might  bring  you  to  grief. 

"All  I  ask  of  you  is  that  you  notify  the  Magistrate  at  once, 
and  that  you  do  not  allow  women  and  children  to  come  in  and 
gaze  upon  my  remains.  There  is  nothing  strange  or  abnormal 
here ;  death  had  become  an  unavoidable  duty.  Those  who  under- 
stand me,  will  pity;  that  is  all.  The  last  earnest  instructions 
of  Wu  K'o-tu." 

Next,  to  his  son,  he  expressed  his  dying  wishes  in  a 
letter  which  embodies  many  of  the  Confucian  scholar's 
most  cherished  ideals  and  beliefs,  a  document  pathetic  in 
its  simple  dignity,  its  pride  of  ancient  lineage  and  duty 
well  done  according  to  his  lights. 

"  Chih-huan,  my  son,  be  not  alarmed  when  you  hear  the  news 
of  my  death,  and  on  no  account  allow  your  grief  to  disturb  the 
family.  Your  mother  is  old,  your  wife  is  young,  and  my  poor 
little  grandchildren  are  but  babies.  Tell  them  that  I  am  dead, 
but  bid  them  not  to  grieve  over  my  suicide.  Our  family  tree 
goes  back  over  five  hundred  years ;  for  two  centuries  there  have 
been  members  of  our  clan  among  the  Imperial  concubines,  and 
for  three  hundred  years  we  have  devoted  ourselves  to  husbandry 
and  scholarship.  For  eighteen  generations  our  family  has  borne 
a  good  name;  I,  who  am  now  seventy  years  of  age,  can  claim 
an  unsullied  record,  although  as  a  lad  I  was  somewhat  given  to 
dissipation.     No  man  can  truthfully  accuse  me  of  having  failed 

^  The  burial  place  was  close  to,  but  necessarily  outside,  the  large 
enclosed*^  park  which  contains  the  Imperial  mausolea. 


92    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

to  observe  the  main  principles  of  duty,  and  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  my  friends  and  former  pupils  have  always  sought  my 
services  as  a  teacher  of  the  Confucian  doctrine.  Quite  recently 
I  declined  the  pressing  invitation  of  the  Grand  Secretary,  the 
Marquis  Tso  Tsung-t'ang,  who  wished  me  to  become  tutor  to 
his  family,  because  the  date  was  at  hand  for  His  late  Majesty's 
burial,  and  I  desired  quietly  to  await  to-day's  event. 

"Ever  since,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  I  took  my  M.A. 
degree,  I  have  been  of  prudent  conduct,  and  have  observed  the 
proprieties  in  official  life.  In  the  study  of  history  I  have  ever 
been  deeply  touched  by  examples  of  patriotism  and  loyalty  to 
the  Sovereign,  and  the  splendid  lives  of  the  ancients  have  moved 
me,  now  to  tears  and  again  to  exuberance  of  joy. 

"  Upon  the  death  of  the  late  Emperor,  I  had  determined  to 
memorialise  the  Empresses  Dowager,  through  the  Censorate, 
and  had  fully  made  up  my  mind  to  accept  my  fate  for  so  doing ; 
but  an  old  friend,  to  whom  I  showed  the  draft,  begged  me  not 
to  forward  it,  not  only  because  I  had  already  been  punished 
for  similar  rashness  on  a  former  occasion,  but  because  he  said 
some  of  its  allusions  to  current  events  were  not  absolutely 
accurate.  Therefore  I  waited  until  to-day,  but  now  I  can  wait 
no  longer.  It  is  my  wish  to  die,  in  order  that  the  purpose  of 
my  life  may  be  fittingly  accomplished  and  a  lifetime  of  loyalty 
consummated.  My  death  is  in  no  way  due  to  the  slanders 
which  have  been  circulated  about  me. 

"When  you  receive  this  letter,  come  straightway  to  the 
Temple  of  the  Threefold  Duties  at  the  bridge  of  the  God  oi 
Horses,  twelve  miles  to  the  east  of  Chi  Chou  and  quite  close 
to  the  Imperial  mausolea.  There  seek  out  the  Taoist  priest, 
Chou;  he  knows  my  burial  place,  and  I  have  asked  him  to  buy 
me  a  coffin  and  to  have  it  painted  black  inside.  My  burial 
clothes  are  all  in  order,  but  I  have  asked  him  to  cut  off  the 
leather  soles  from  my  boots.  ^  He  is  to  buy  a  certain  small 
piece  of  ground,  close  to  the  Imperial  tomb,  which  is  to  be  my 
grave.  This  will  be  far  better  than  having  my  remains  taken 
to  the  ancestral  burial  ground,  and  there  is  really  no  need  for 
me  to  rest  there,  as  my  younger  brother  already  lies  beside  your 
grandparents.  He,  you  remember,  committed  suicide  twenty 
years  ago  at  his  house  in  Peking,  because  of  private  troubles, 
and  now  I  follow  his  example,  because  of  disorder  in  the  State. 
People  will  say,  no  doubt,  that  our  family  burial  ground  is 
become  a  place  of  evil  omen,  but  pay  no  heed  to  them.  No 
doubt  you  will  desire  to  take  home  my  remains,  but  do  not  so. 
Take  instead  my  photograph,  the  one  I  had  taken  just  before 
I  left  Peking,  and  have  an  enlargement  of  it  hung  up  in  our 

^  Burial  clothes  should  all  be  new  and  clean— by  cutting  away  the 
soles,  his  boots  would  look  less  shabby. 


THE  PROTEST  AND  SUICIDE  OF  WU  K'O-TU    93 

family  hall.  Thus  shall  you  observe  the  old  custom  which 
preserves  relics  of  the  departed.  Why  go  to  the  expense  and 
trouble  of  transporting  a  coffin  over  a  thousand  miles? 

"Even  though  it  should  happen  that  the  Empresses  should 
cause  dire  penalties  to  be  inflicted  upon  my  corpse  because  of 
my  effrontery  of  language,  you  may  be  sure  that  in  this  en- 
lightened age,  there  is  no  possibility  of  my  offences  being  visited 
upon  my  wife  and  family.  All  you  need  to  do  is  to  borrow  from 
our  friends  money  enough  to  take  you  from  Peking,  and  after 
that,  you  must  make  the  best  of  your  way  to  our  family  home, 
begging  if  necessary.  On  no  account  must  you  remain  in 
Peking,  for  by  so  doing  you  will  only  attract  attention  and 
further  endanger  your  father.^ 

"What  I  chiefly  deprecate  in  you,  my  son,  is  your  quick 
tongue;  you  must  really  try  to  amend  your  ways  in  this  respect 
and  endeavour  to  be  less  hasty.  If  people  tell  you  that  your 
father  was  loyal,  do  not  contradict  them ;  if  they  say  he  was  an 
honest  man,  you  should  agree.  Read  carefully  the  advice  of 
Ma  Yiian,  the  great  General,  to  his  nephew,  and  Wang  Hou's 
admonitions  to  his  sons. 

"When  your  mother  married  me  she  had  good  prospects,  as 
the  daughter  or  an  old  military  family.  Since  her  marriage 
she  has  dutifully  served  my  parents,  and  her  reputation  for 
filial  devotion  is  excellent.  I  regret  that  I  was  not  destined  to 
bring  her  happiness  and  good  fortune  :  she  is  old  now,  and  you 
alone  are  left  to  her.  It  is  your  duty  to  take  her  to  our  home 
and  minister  to  her  old  age. 

"  As  regards  the  few  poor  acres  of  land  left  me  by  my  father, 
I  feel  that  I  cannot  reasonably  expect  you  to  follow  the  example 
of  the  ancient  worthies  and  to  surrender  it  all  to  your  brothers, 
but  at  least  I  ask  that  you  should  allow  them  to  live  amicably 
with  you.  Your  wife  is  a  sensible  woman — tell  her  from  me 
that  the  happiness  of  every  household  depends  on  the  temper  of 
its  womenfolk.  I  knew  one  woman  who  feigned  death  in  order 
to  induce  her  husband  to  treat  his  brothers  more  kindly,  but 
this  was  a  heroic  act,  far  above  the  moral  capacity  of  your  wife. 

"  As  to  the  forty  taels  ^  which  you  will  find  on  my  person, 
you  will  hand  over  to  the  Taoist  priest,  Chou,  any  balance  there 
may  remain  after  he  has  paid  for  my  coffin  and  burial  expenses. 
On  arriving  at  Chi  Chou,  go  at  once  and  see  the  Magistrate,  to 
whom  I  have  written ;  thence  proceed  to  the  temple,  where  you 
must  give  them  some  extra  money  to  compensate  them  for 
all  the  trouble  they  have  had.  Thereafter  return  to  Peking, 
and  there  await  the  Empresses's  decision  in  regard  to  my 
case. 

^  I.e.  by  causing  the  Empresses  to  have  his  corpse  mutilated. 
^  About  ;^io. 


94    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

''  See  to  it  that  my  small  debts  are  all  paid,  that  my  life  may 
end  in  fitting  and  harmonious  dignity.  At  a  moment  like  this, 
I  am  naturally  agitated  in  mind.  It  is  hard  to  foretell  what 
the  decision  of  the  Empresses  may  be,  but  at  least  my  conscience 
is  clear,  and  what  does  anything  else  matter?  For  your  own 
personal  safety,  I  do  not  think  you  need  have  any  fear. 

"  Present  my  compliments  to  Chang  Chih-tung  :  I  only  wish 
I  could  have  had  more  of  the  old  time  talks  with  him.  Go  also 
to  the  Marquis  Tso  Tsung-t'ang.  He  has  not  treated  me  well 
of  late,  but  slanders  poisoned  his  sympathy,  at  which  I  do  not 
wonder.  The  memory  of  his  former  kindnesses  is  precious  to 
me,  and  I  know  that  he  will  never  let  you  starve. 

"Your  wife,  in  giving  birth  to  my  grandchildren,  has  con- 
ferred blessings  upon  me ;  you  must  never  think  of  allowing  her 
parents  to  provide  for  you.  Leave  therefore  at  once  for  our 
family  home.  There  must  be  no  delay  about  this.  As  to  the 
Taoist  priest,  it  irks  me  to  make  use  of  people  in  this  way. 
He  is  a  bad  man ;  yet  must  we  bear  with  him.  Tell  him  that  I 
regret  having  put  his  temple  to  this  purpose ;  he  need  only  spend 
ten  taels  on  my  coffin  and  a  few  taels  more  for  the  little  plot  of 
ground  to  bury  me  in.  I  am  a  worthless  official  and  deserve 
nothing  better  than  this. 

"Why  have  I  delayed  so  long?  Because  I  did  not  wish  to 
disturb  the  Empresses  with  the  news  of  my  death  at  this  critical 
time.  All  the  Decrees  which  have  appeared  since  the  Emperor 
Kuang-Hsii  came  to  the  Throne  have  moved  me  greatly,  and 
much  have  I  deplored  my  inability  to  serve  their  Majesties 
better.  In  days  of  old,  loyal  servants  of  the  State  were  wont 
to  commit  suicide  as  an  act  of  remonstrance  against  the  degen- 
eracy of  their  Sovereigns.  Not  for  a  moment  are  the  Empresses 
to  be  compared  to  monarchs  like  Ming  Huang  of  the  T'ang 
Dynasty,  who  deserted  his  capital  before  the  invader,  or  Li 
Tsung,  of  the  Sungs,  whose  foolishness  led  to  the  Mongol  wars. 
Nevertheless  my  death  is  due  to  the  same  principles  as  those 
which  actuated  those  faithful  Councillors. 

"Go  home  now,  and  teach  your  children  to  study.  Do  not 
open  my  Memorial  to  the  Empresses.  It  is  sealed,  and  I  have 
asked  the  local  Magistrate  to  forward  it  for  presentation." 

His  Memorial  to  the  Throne  was,  in  fact  (as  the  letter  to 
his  son  plainly  indicates),  an  indictment  of  the  degeneracy 
of  the  ruler  of  the  Empire;  incidentally,  it  throws  much 
light  on  the  orthodox  point  of  view  in  regard  to  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Imperial  succession.  Its  preamble  sets  forth  the 
object  with  which  it  was  written,  and  in  the  hope  of  which 
the  writer  died,  namely,  to  induce  the  Empress  Dowager 


THE  PROTEST  AND  SUICIDE  OF  WU  K'O-TU    95 

to  determine  the  future  succession,  providing  an  heir  to  the 
Kmperor  T'ung-Chih,  in  accordance  with  precedent  and 
the  laws  of  the  Dynasty.  The  text  of  this  remarkable 
document  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  I,  your  worthless  servant,  have  heard  that  the  fact  of  a 
nation  being  well  governed  does  not  necessarily  preclude  all 
possibility  of  anarchy,  nor  does  a  nation  at  peace  dismiss  alto- 
gether from  mind  the  chances  of  violent  disturbance ;  should 
anarchy  and  rebellion  be  regarded  as  possibilities  too  remote 
to  merit  a  thought,  it  were  idle  and  superfluous  to  advise  the 
Sovereign  of  so  perfect  a  State.  To  ask  the  Imperial  wisdom 
to  see  danger  where  no  real  peril  exists  would  be  simply  inviting 
evil  omens. 

"On  a  former  occasion  I,  your  guilty  servant,  wittingly 
incurred  danger  of  death  or  imprisonment,  because,  in  the  heat 
of  indignation,  I  dared  to  remonstrate  with  the  Throne.  At 
that  time  the  Princes  and  Ministers  about  your  Throne  asked 
permission  to  subject  me  to  a  criminal  enquiry,  but  His  late 
Majesty  T'ung-Chih  was  pleased  to  spare  me,  so  that  I  neither 
suffered  death  by  the  headsman's  sword  nor  imprisonment,  nor 
did  I  run  the  risk  of  further  exciting  the  Imperial  wrath  by  my 
evidence  before  a  criminal  court.  Thrice  have  I  deserved, 
without  receiving,  the  penalty  of  death.  Without  desiring  my 
forfeit  life,  it  was  granted  me,  so  that  my  last  few  years  have 
been,  as  it  were,  a  boon  at  the  hands  of  His  late  Majesty. 

''But  on  the  5th  day  of  the  12th  Moon  of  the  13th  year  of 
T'ung-Chih  the  earth  was  rent  and  heaven  itself  was  shaken  by 
the  great  catastrophe,  and  on  that  day  their  Majesties  the 
Empresses  Dowager  issued  the  following  Decree  :  *  The  departed 
Emperor  has  mounted  the  Dragon  and  is  become  a  guest  on 
high,  leaving  no  heir  to  the  Throne.  We  are  compelled  to 
appoint  Tsai  T'ien,  son  of  Prince  Ch'un,  to  be  heir  to  His 
Majesty  Hsien-Feng,  to  enter  on  the  great  inheritance  as  the 
new  Emperor.  W^hen  to  him  an  heir  shall  be  born,  he  shall 
become  son  by  adoption  to  the  late  Emperor  T'ung-Chih.' 

"I,  your  unworthy  servant,  wept  bitterly  as,  reverently  kneel- 
ing, I  read  this  Decree.  I  cannot  but  feel,  after  most  careful 
consideration,  that  the  Empresses  Dowager  have  doubly  erred 
in  appointing  an  heir  to  the  Emperor  Hsien-Feng  and  not  to  His 
late  Majesty.  For  thus  the  new  Emperor,  being  heir  to  His 
Majesty  Hsien-Feng,  enters  upon  the  great  heritage  not,  as  he 
should,  by  mandate  of  His  late  Majesty  T'ung-Chih,  but  by 
mandate  of  the  Empresses.  Hence  the  future  succession  must, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  revert  to  the  heir  of  the  new  Emperor, 
even  though  there  should  be  no  explicit  instructions  to  that  effect. 
But,  as  this  Decree  expressly  ordains  that  this  shall  be  so,  it 


96    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

follows  that  a  precedent  will  be  established,  whereby  the  great 
inheritance  may  pass  by  adoption. 

"I,  your  unworthy  servant,  realise  that  it  is  no  hght  matter 
for  a  loyal  subject  to  refer  to  the  future  death  of  a  Sovereign 
while  that  Sovereign  is  still  alive,  entitled  to  all  his  reverence 
and  devotion.  But,  for  more  than  two  centuries,  the  ancestral 
tradition  of  our  House-law  has  been  observed  that  the  Throne 
shall  pass  from  father  to  son,  and  this  law  should  be  steadfastly 
maintained  for  ten  thousand  generations  amongst  those  of  us 
who  recognise  a  common  descent.  Moreover,  Prince  Ch'un  is 
a  loyal  statesman,  justly  revered  by  all  as  a  virtuous  Prince. 
His  Memorial  has  inspired  everyone  of  us  with  fresh  feelings 
of  enthusiastic  loyalty.  His  words  are  but  the  mirror  of  his 
mind;  how  could  any  falseness  find  therein  a  place?  When  I 
perused  his  Memorial,  tears  of  joy  irrepressible  fell  from  my  eyes. 
If  ever  the  Prince  should  learn  of  this  my  humble  Memorial, 
he  may  perchance  be  wroth  at  my  perversity  or  pity  my  folly ; 
at  all  events  he  will  never  blame  me  for  endeavouring  to  stir  up 
vain  strife  by  my  words. 

**  The  new  Emperor  is  of  gentle  disposition ;  from  the  Empress 
Dowager  he  had  received  the  '  precious  inheritance  '  and  until 
his  dying  day  he  will  naturally  be  of  one  mind  with  the  Empresses 
in  this  matter.  But  in  the  Palace  there  are  sycophants  as  well 
as  honest  men,  and  many  conflicting  opinions.  To  take 
examples  from  history  :  at  the  beginning  of  the  Sung  Dynasty, 
even  that  great  and  good  man  the  Grand  Secretary  Chao  P'u, 
led  the  way  in  obeying  the  orders  of  the  Empress  Dowager  Tu. 
Again,  under  the  Ming  Dynasty,  a  venerable  servant  of  the 
State,  the  Grand  Secretary  Wang  Chih,  was  ashamed  that  it 
should  be  left  to  a  barbarian  like  Huang  Kung  (native  of  an 
aboriginal  tribe  in  Kuangsi)  to  memorialise  urging  the  lawful 
Heir  Apparent's  succession  to  the  Emperor  Ching-T'ai,  when 
no  Chinese  official  dared  to  do  so.  If  even  virtuous  men  could 
act  thus  what  need  to  enquire  about  disloyal  subjects?  If  such 
be  the  conduct  of  old  servants,  how  shall  we  blame  upstarts? 
To  set  aside  settled  ordinances  may  be  bad,  but  how  much 
worse  is  our  case  where  no  ordinances  exist?  We  should 
therefore  seek  if  perchance  we  may  find  some  way  out  of  this 
double  error,  whereby  we  may  return  to  the  right  way,  I 
therefore  beg  that  the  Empresses  may  be  pleased  to  issue  a 
second  Decree  explicitly  stating  that  the  great  inheritance  shall 
hereafter  revert  to  the  adopted  son  of  His  late  Majesty  T'ung- 
Chih,  and  that  no  Minister  shall  be  allowed  to  upset  this  Decree, 
even  though  the  new  Emperor  be  blessed  with  a  hundred  sons. 
If,  in  this  way,  the  succession  be  rectified  and  the  situation 
defined,  so  that  further  confusion  be  hereafter  impossible,  the 
House-law  of   the  present   Dynasty   will   be   observed,    which 


THE  PROTEST  AND  SUICIDE  OF  WU   K'O-TU    97 

requires  that  the  Throne  be  handed  down  from  father  to  son. 
Thus,  to  the  late  Emperor,  now  childless,  an  heir  will  be  pro- 
vided and  the  Empresses  Dowager  will  no  longer  be  without 
a  grandson.  And,  for  all  time,  the  orderly  maintenance  of  the 
succession  will  be  ascribed  to  the  Empresses,  whose  fame  will 
be  changeless  and  unending.  This  is  what  I,  your  guilty 
servant,  mean,  when  I  say  that  the  double  error  which  has  been 
committed  may  yet  serve  to  bring  us  back  to  the  right  way. 

"I,  your  most  unworthy  slave,  had  intended  to  memorialise 
on  this  matter  when  His  Majesty  died,  and  to  present  the 
Memorial  through  the  Censorate.  But  it  occurred  to  me  that, 
since  I  had  lost  my  post,  I  was  debarred  from  addressing  the 
Throne.  Besides,  how  grave  a  matter  is  this  !  If  advice  in 
such  a  matter  be  given  by  a  Prince  or  a  Minister,  it  is  called  the 
sage  and  far-reaching  counsel  of  a  statesman;  but  if  it  comes 
from  a  small  and  insignificant  official  it  is  called  the  idle  utterance 
of  a  wanton  babbler.  Never  could  I  have  believed  that  the 
many  wise  and  loyal  statesmen  of  your  Court  could  one  and 
all  regard  this  as  a  matter  of  no  immediate  urgency,  dismissing  it 
as  a  question  unprofitable  for  discussion.  I  waited,  therefore, 
and  the  precious  moments  passed,  but  none  of  them  have  moved 
in  the  matter. 

"Afterwards,  having  received  renewed  marks  of  the  Imperial 
favour,  and  being  again  summoned  to  audience,  I  was  granted 
the  position  of  a  Board  Secretary,  and  placed  on  the  Board  of 
Appointments.  This  was  more  than  four  years  ago;  yet  all 
this  time  apparently  not  one  of  all  the  Ministers  of  your  Court 
has  even  given  this  grave  matter  a  moment's  consideration. 
The  day  for  His  late  Majesty's  entombment  has  now  arrived, 
and  I  fear  that  what  has  happened  will  gradually  pass  from  the 
minds  of  men.  The  time,  therefore,  is  short,  and  the  reasons 
which  led  me  to  delay  hold  good  no  longer.  Looking  upward, 
as  the  divine  soul  of  His  Majesty  soars  heavenward  on  the 
Dragon,  wistfully  I  turn  my  eyes  upon  the  Palace  enclosure. 
Beholding  the  bows  and  arrows  left  behind  on  the  Bridge  Moun- 
tain,^ my  thoughts  turn  to  the  cherished  mementoes  of  my 
Sovereign.  Humbly  I  offer  up  these  years  of  life  that  have 
been  added  unto  me  by  His  Majesty's  clemency;  humbly  I  lay 
them  down  in  propitiation  of  the  Empresses  Dowager,  to  im- 
plore from  them  a  brief  Decree  on  behalf  of  the  late  Emperor. 

"  But,  on  the  point  of  leaving  this  world,  I  feel  that  my  mind 
is  confused.  The  text  of  this,  my  Memorial,  lacks  clearness; 
there  are  manifold  omissions  in  it.  It  has  ever  been  my  custom 
to  revise  a  draft  twice  before  handing  in  a  Memorial,  but  on 
this  occasion  I  have  not  been  able  to  make  such  careful  revision. 
I,  your  unworthy  servant,  am  no  scholar  like  to  the  men  of  old; 

1  The  point  whence,  according  to  legend,  the  Yellow  Emperor  ascended 
to  heaven  and  where  his  clothes  were  buried. 

H 


98    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

how,  then,  could  I  be  calm  and  collected  as  they  were  wont  to 
be?  Once  there  went  a  man  to  his  death,  and  he  could  not 
walk  erect.  A  bystander  said  to  him  *  Are  you  afraid,  sir?  ' 
He  replied,  '  I  am.'  *  If  you  are  afraid,  why  not  turn  back?  ' 
He  replied,  *  My  fear  is  a  private  weakness ;  my  death  is  a 
public  duty.'  This  is  the  condition  in  which  I  find  myself 
to-day.  *  When  a  bird  is  dying  its  song  is  sad.  When  a  man 
is  dying  his  words  are  good.'  ^  How  could  I,  your  worthless 
servant,  dare  to  compare  myself  with  the  sage  Tseng  Tzu? 
Though  I  am  about  to  die,  yet  may  my  words  not  be  good ;  but 
I  trust  that  the  Empresses  and  the  Emperor  will  pity  my  last 
sad  utterance,  regarding  it  neither  as  an  evil  omen  nor  the  idle 
plaint  of  one  who  has  no  real  cause  for  grief.  Thus  shall  I  die 
without  regret.  A  statesman  of  the  Sung  Dynasty  has  re- 
marked :  '  To  discuss  an  event  before  it  occurs  is  foolhardy. 
But  if  one  waits  until  is  has  occurred,  speech  is  then  too  late, 
and,  therefore,  superfluous.'  Foolhardiness  notwithstanding, 
it  is  well  that  the  Throne  should  be  warned  before  events  occur ; 
no  Minister  should  ever  have  to  reproach  himself  with  having 
spoken  too  late.  Heartily  do  I  wish  that  my  words  may  prove 
untrue,  so  that  posterity  may  laugh  at  my  folly.  I  do  not  desire 
that  my  words  may  be  verified,  for  posterity  to  acclaim  my 
wisdom.  May  it  be  my  fate  to  resemble  Tu  Mu,^  even  though 
to  imitate  him  be  a  transgression  of  duty.  May  I  be  likened, 
rather,  to  Shih  Ch'iu,  the  sight  of  whose  dead  body  proved,  as 
he  had  hoped,  an  effective  rebuke  to  his  erring  Prince.  Thus 
may  my  foolish  but  loyal  words  be  justified  in  the  end. 

"  I  pray  the  Empresses  and  Emperor  to  remember  the  example 
of  Their  Majesties  Shun-Chih  and  K'ang-Hsi,  in  tempering 
justice  with  mercy  :  that  they  may  promote  peace  and  prosperity^ 
by  appointing  only  worthy  men  to  public  offices ;  that  they  may 
refrain  from  striving  for  those  objects  which  foreigners  hold 
dear,  for  by  such  striving  they  will  surely  jeopardise  the  future 
of  our  Middle  Kingdom ;  that  they  may  never  initiate  any  of  the 
innovations  disdained  by  their  ancestors,  which  would  assuredly 
leave  to  posterity  a  heritage  of  woe.  These  are  my  last  words, 
my  last  prayer,  the  end  and  crown  of  my  life. 


"  Postscript. 

"  Having  been  a  Censor,  I  venture  thus  to  memorialise  the 
Throne.     But  as  my  present  official  position  does  not  permit  of 

1  A  quotation  from  Tseng  Tzu,  one  of  the  most  noted  disciples  of 
Confucius.  *  .         .  , , 

2  A  sort  of  Chinese  Malaprop,  known  to  history  as  one  who  mvanably 
spoke  at  the  wrong  time. 


THE  PROTEST  AND  SUICIDE  OF   WU  K'O-TU    99 

my  forwarding  this  direct,  I  request  the  high  officials  of  my 
Board  to  present  it  for  me.  As  my  name  did  not  figure  origin- 
ally in  the  list  of  officials  to  represent  my  Board  at  the  ceremonies 
preparatory  to  His  late  Majesty's  burial,  I  begged  the  Grand 
Secretary  Pao  Yiin  to  allow  me  to  be  included  in  the  list.  Pao 
Yun  could  not  have  foretold  my  suicide,  so  that  no  blame  can 
attach  to  him  for  being  my  sponsor.  Under  our  enlightened 
Dynasty,  how  could  anyone  imagine  a  return  to  the  ancient 
and  happily  obsolete  practice  of  being  buried  alive  with  one's 
Sovereign  ?  But  my  grief  is  too  great  and  cannot  be  restrained  ; 
for  to-day  my  Sovereign  returns,  dragon-borne,  to  Heaven,  and 
all  the  world  weeps  with  me  in  woe  unutterable. 

"  I  have  respectfully  but  fully  explained  my  feelings  in  this 
question  of  the  lawful  succession  to  the  Throne,  and  now,  under 
the  title  of  your  guilty  servant,  I  present  this  my  Memorial." 


VIII 

TZU  HSI  BECOMES  SOLE  REGENT 

The  days  of  mourning  for  T*ung-Chih  being  done,  his 
remains  disposed  of  as  auspiciously  as  the  Court  of  Astro- 
nomers could  desire,  and  his  ghost  placated,  thanks  to 
Wu  K'o-tu,  by  solemn  promises  on  the  part  of  his  mother 
to  provide  him  with  a  suitable  and  legitimate  heir  in  due 
season,  life  in  the  Forbidden  City  settled  down  once  more 
into  the  old  grooves  under  the  joint  Regency  of  the 
Empresses  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Palaces. 

But  before  long  the  new  Emperor,  a  nervous  and  delicate 
boy,  became,  all  unconsciously,  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the 
woman  who  put  him  on  the  Throne.  As  he  passed  from 
infancy  to  boyhood,  it  was  a  matter  of  common  knowledge 
and  report  in  the  Palace  that  he  showed  a  marked  prefer- 
ence for  the  Empress  Tzu  An,  who,  by  her  kind  and 
sympathetic  treatment,  had  won  the  child's  heart.  In  the 
innocence  of  his  lonely  youth  he  frequented  therefore  the 
Eastern  Palace,  while  Tzu  Hsi,  whose  pride  could  brook 
no  rivals,  even  in  the  heart  of  a  child,  was  compelled  to 
look  on,  and  to  realise  that  the  forming  of  the  future  ruler's 
mind  was  in  the  hands  of  another  woman.  There  were 
not  lacking  those  who  told  her  that  her  colleague,  secretly 
and  with  ulterior  motives,  encouraged  the  boy  to  oppose 
and  displease  her.  Under  these  conditions,  it  was  inevit- 
able that  the  young  Emperor  should  gradually  become  a 
cause  of  increasing  jealousy  and  friction  between  the  two 
women. 

Tzu  Hsi  undoubtedly  resented  the  boy's  predilection 
as  much  as  her  colleague's  action  in  encouraging  it.  At 
Court,  where  everyone  and  everything  is  a  potential  instru- 
ment for  intrigue  and  party  faction,  the  young  Emperor's 
attitude  could  not  fail  to  cause  her  grave  concern.     She 


c  c  c  c  c 
c  c  c  <;  c 


TZO  HSI  BECOMES  SOLE  .RJJGENT         lox 

was  well  aware  that  Tzu  An  could  never  become,  of  herself, 
a  formidable  rival,  but  should  she  hereafter  enjoy  the 
Emperor's  confidence  and  support,  and  instigate  him  to 
become  the  centre  of  a  faction  against  her  (which  he  did), 
there  might  be  danger  in  the  situation  for  herself.  As 
the  Emperor's  minority  approached  its  end,  it  therefore 
became  the  more  necessary  for  her  to  take  all  possible 
precautions.  She  had  no  intention  of  sharing  the  fate  of 
that  Empress  Consort  of  Ch*ien  Lung  who  was  banished 
to  the  "  Cold  Palace  "  and  whose  honours  and  titles  were 
taken  from  her  on  charges  of  "wild  extravagance,  love  of 
the  theatre  and  insubordination  to  the  Emperor's  mother." 
A  further  cause  of  friction  occurred  between  the  two 
Empresses  Regent  on  the  occasion  of  the  Imperial  progress 
to  the  Eastern  tombs,  in  1880,  when  the  boy  Emperor  was 
nine  years  old.  On  this  occasion,  Tzu  An,  evidently 
prompted  by  Prince  Kung  to  assert  herself  and  her  rights, 
insisted  on  taking  precedence  in  all  the  ceremonies  of  the 
ancestral  sacrifices  at  the  Imperial  Mausolea  and  at  the 
prostrations  which  custom  decrees  shall  be  made  before 
each  of  the  "Jewelled  Cities,"  as  the  mounds  are  called 
which  cover  the  Imperial  grave  chambers.  When  Their 
Majesties  arrived  at  the  grave  of  Hsien-Feng,  there  was 
serious  friction.  Tzu  An,  as  the  senior  Consort  of  the 
deceased  monarch,  claimed  as  her  right  the  central  posi- 
tion, at  the  same  time  relegating  her  colleague  to  the  place 
on  her  right,  leaving  the  place  of  honour  on  the  left  un- 
occupied. Not  content  with  this,  Tzu  An  went  on  to 
remind  her  Co-Regent  that,  where  sacrifices  to  Hsien- 
Feng  were  in  question,  Tzu  Hsi  was  entitled  only  to  claim 
precedence  as  a  senior  concubine,  her  elevation  to  the 
position  of  Empress  Mother  having  taken  place  after  his 
decease.  As  a  concubine,  etiquette  required  her,  during 
the  sacrifice,  to  take  a  position  on  one  side  and  slightly 
in  the  rear,  while  the  vacant  place  of  honour  to  Tzu  An's 
left  belonged  to  the  shade  of  Hsien-Feng's  first  consort, 
who  had  died  before  his  accession,  but  had  been  post- 
humously raised  to  the  rank  of  Senior  Empress.  Tzu  Hsi, 
realising   that  this   indignity   was   put   upon  her   at   the 


102    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

instigation  of  Prince  Kung  and  the  Princes  of  the  Imperial 
family,  had  no  intention  of  submitting,  and  peremptorily- 
insisted  upon  taking  the  position  to  which  her  actual  rank 
and  authority  entitled  her.  The  quarrel  was  sharp  but 
short.  Tzu  Hsi,  as  might  have  been  expected,  carried  the 
day,  but  she  felt  that  such  a  scene  before  the  ancestral 
tombs,  witnessed  by  a  large  entourage,  was  semi-sacri- 
legious and  from  every  point  of  view  unseemly.  She  had 
been  made  to  lose  face  by  the  incident — clearly  premedi- 
tated— and  the  fact  had  immediate  effect  upon  her  sub- 
sequent actions  and  her  relations  with  her  colleague.^ 

At  the  time  of  this  progress  to  the  tombs,  Jung  Lu  was 
in  command  of  the  Metropolitan  Gendarmerie,  entrusted 
with  the  duty  of  escorting  Their  Majesties.  Shortly  after 
their  return  to  Peking,  however,  he  incurred  her  sharp 
displeasure  by  reason  of  conduct  which  Tzu  Hsi  was  not 
likely  to  overlook,  even  in  her  chief  favourite.  Ever  since 
the  Jehol  days  of  the  Tsai  Yiian  conspiracy,  and  particu- 
larly during  the  crisis  that  followed  the  death  of  T*ung- 
Chih,  this  powerful  Manchu  had  enjoyed  her  favour  and 
confidence  in  an  unusual  degree,  and  as  Comptroller  of  her 
Household,  he  had  the  right  of  entree  to  the  Forbidden 
City  at  all  times.  But  in  1880,  suffering  no  doubt  from 
ennui  induced  by  the  inactivity  of  Court  life,  he  committed 
the  indiscretion  of  an  intrigue  with  one  of  the  ladies  of  the 
late  Emperor's  seraglio.  Information  of  the  scandal  was 
laid  before  Her  Majesty  by  the  Imperial  tutor  Weng 
T'ung-ho,  between  whom  and  Jung  Lu  there  was  never 
love  lost.  It  was  commonly  rumoured  at  Court,  after  the 
event,  that  Tzu  Hsi,  leaving  nothing  to  chance,  had  herself 
discovered  the  culprit  in  the  women's  quarters  of  the 
Palace,  a  heinous  offence.     Be  this  as  it  may,  Jung  Lu 

^  It  is  curious  to  note  how  frequently  the  Imperial  tombs  have  been  the 
scene  of  such  unseemly  wrangles,  wherein  grievances  and  passions,  long 
pent  up  within  the  Palace  precincts,  find  utterance.  A  case  of  this  kind 
occurred  in  1909,  on  the  occasion  of  the  burial  of  Tzu  Hsi,  when  the  sur- 
viving consorts  of  T'ung-Chih  and  Kuang-Hsii,  having  quarrelled  with 
the  new  Empress  Dowager  (Lung  Yu)  on  a  similar  question  of  precedence, 
refused  to  return  to  the  City  and  remained  in  dudgeon  at  the  tombs  until 
a  special  mission,  under  an  Imperial  Duke,  was  sent  humbly  to  beg  them 
to  come  back,  to  the  no  small  scandal  of  the  orthodox. 


TZtJ  HSI  BECOMES  SOLE  REGENT  103 

was  summarily,  though  quietly,  deprived  of  all  his  posts, 
and  for  the  next  seven  years  he  lived  in  retirement.  In 
this  case  Tzu  Hsi  vindicated  her  pride  at  the  expense  of 
her  own  comfort  and  sense  of  security,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  she  had  reason  to  regret  the  absence  of  her  most 
loyal  and  trusty  adviser.  Amongst  her  courtiers  she  found 
none  to  replace  him ;  she  missed  his  wise  counsel,  courage 
and  fidelity.  But  having  once  committed  herself  to  the 
step  of  dismissing  him,  she  was  unwilling  to  lose  face  with 
him  and  with  her  Court  by  changing  her  mind.  His 
removal,  however,  undoubtedly  led  to  increased  friction 
between  herself  and  Tzu  An,  whom  she  suspected  of  being 
a  party  to  Jung  Lu's  liaison. 

Finally,  in  March  1881,  a  serious  quarrel  took  place 
between  the  two  Empresses,  on  the  subject  of  the  influence 
which  the  Chief  Eunuch  Li  Lien-ying  had  come  to  exercise, 
and  the  arrogance  of  his  manner.  Tzu  An  complained  that 
this  favourite  and  confidential  servant  of  her  colleague 
ignored  her,  setting  her  authority  at  nought,  so  that  she 
was  mocked  even  by  her  own  subordinates.  She  deplored 
and  denounced  the  existing  state  of  affairs,  commenting 
unpleasantly  on  the  notorious  fact  that  the  eunuch  was 
openly  known  by  the  title  of  *'Lord  of  nine  thousand 
years,"  a  title  which  implied  that  he  was  but  one  degree 
lower  than  the  Emperor  ("Lord  of  ten  thousand  years")  and 
entitled  to  something  approximating  to  Imperial  honours.^ 

The  quarrel  on  this  occasion  was  exceedingly  bitter,  nor 
was  any  reconciliation  subsequently  effected  between  the 
Empresses.  It  is  very  generally  believed,  and  was  freely 
stated  at  the  time,  that,  incensed  beyond  measure  and 
impatient  of  any  further  interference  with  her  authority, 
Tzu  Hsi  brought  about  the  death  of  her  colleague,  which 
was  commonly  attributed  to  poison.  In  the  atmosphere  of 
an  Oriental  Court  such  charges  are  as  inevitable  as  they  are 
incapable  of  proof  or  disproof,  and  were  it  not  for  the 

1  This  title  was  originally  given  to  an  infamous  eunuch  of  the  Court  of 
the  Ming  Emperor  Chu  Yii  hsiao,  who,  because  of  his  influence  over 
his  dissolute  master,  was  canonised  by  the  latter  after  his  death.  The 
same  title  was  claimed  and  used  by  the  Eunuch  An  Te-hai,  inWg  supra^ 
p.  58. 


104    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

unfortunate  fact  that  those  who  stood  in  the  way  of  Tzu 
Hsi's  ambitions,  or  who  incurred  her  displeasure,  fre- 
quently failed  to  survive  it,  we  should  be  justified  in  refus- 
ing to  attach  importance  to  the  imputations  of  foul  play 
raised  on  this  and  other  occasions.  But  these  occasions 
are  too  numerous  to  be  entirely  overlooked  or  regarded  as 
simple  coincidences.  In  the  present  instance,  the  Empress 
Tzu  An  fell  ill  of  a  sudden  and  mysterious  sickness,  and, 
in  the  words  of  the  Imperial  Decree,  she  "ascended  the 
fairy  chariot  for  her  distant  journey"  on  the  evening  of 
the  loth  day  of  the  3rd  Moon.  In  accordance  with  pre- 
scribed custom,  she  drafted  just  before  her  decease  a  vale- 
dictory Decree  which,  as  will  be  observed,  touches  hardly 
at  all  on  the  political  questions  of  the  day.  These,  even 
at  the  moment  of  her  death,  she  appeared  to  leave,  as  by 
established  right,  to  her  strong-minded  colleague.  After 
referring  to  her  position  as  Senior  Consort  of  the  Em- 
peror Hsien-Feng,  and  recording  the  fact  that  during  his 
minority  the  young  Emperor  had  done  justice  to  his 
education  (in  which  she  had  always  been  much  interested), 
the  Edict  proceeds  as  follows:  — 

**  In  spite  of  the  arduous  duties  of  the  State,  which  have  fully 
occupied  my  time,  I  was  naturally  of  robust  constitution  and 
had  therefore  fully  expected  to  attain  to  a  good  old  age  and  to 
enjoy  the  Emperor's  dutiful  ministrations.  Yesterday,  however, 
I  was  suddenly  stricken  with  a  slight  illness  and  His  Majesty 
thereupon  commanded  his  physician  to  attend  me;  later  His 
Majesty  came  in  person  to  enquire  as  to  my  health.  And  now, 
most  unexpectedly,  I  have  had  a  most  dangerous  relapse.  At 
7  P.M.  this  evening  I  became  completely  confused  in  mind  and 
now  all  hope  of  my  recovery  appears  to  be  vain.  I  am  forty-five 
years  of  age  and  for  close  on  twenty  years  have  held  the  high 
position  of  a  Regent  of  the  Empire.  Many  honorific  titles  and 
ceremonies  of  congratulation  have  been  bestowed  upon  me : 
what  cause  have  I  therefore  for  regret?  " 

At  her  request,  and  with  that  modesty  which  custom 
prescribes,  the  period  of  Imperial  mourning  was  reduced 
from  twenty-seven  months  to  twenty-seven  days.  There 
is  a  human  touch  in  the  conclusion  of  this  Decree  which 
seems  to  preclude  the  conclusion  that  Tzu  Hsi  had  any 


TZO  HSI  BECOMES  SOLE  REGENT  105 

hand  in  its  drafting,  for  it  describes  Tzu  An  as  having 
been  careful  to  "set  a  good  example  of  thrift  and  sobriety 
in  the  Palace  and  to  have  steadily  discountenanced  all 
pomp  and  vain  display  in  her  share  of  the  Court  cere- 
monies." As  most  of  the  charges  levelled  for  many  years 
against  Tzu  Hsi  by  Censors  and  other  high  officials  re- 
ferred to  her  notorious  extravagance,  this,  and  Tzu  An^s 
last  request  for  a  modest  funeral  as  the  fitting  conclusion 
to  a  modest  life,  were  a  palpable  hit. 

Tzu  An  was  dead.  The  playmate  of  her  youth,  the  girl 
who  had  faced  with  her  the  solemn  mysteries  of  the  For- 
bidden City,  the  woman  who  later,  because  of  her  failure 
to  provide  an  heir  to  the  Throne,  had  effaced  herself  in 
favour  of  the  Empress  Mother,  her  poor-spirited  rival  of 
many  years — Tzu  An  would  trouble  her  no  more.  Hence- 
forth, without  usurpation  of  authority,  Tzu  Hsi  was  free  to 
direct  the  ship  of  State  alone,  sole  Regent  of  the  Empire. 

And  with  the  death  of  her  colleague  came  the  desire  to 
be  free  from  the  restraints  of  advice  given  by  prescriptive 
right  of  long-standing  authority,  the  ambition  to  be  the 
only  and  undisputed  controller  of  the  nation's  destinies,  and 
acknowledged  Head  of  the  State.  For  many  years — in 
fact,  since  the  decapitation  of  her  favourite  eunuch.  An 
Te-hai,  by  Prince  Kung  ^  and  her  Co-Regent — she  had 
been  on  bad  terms  with  that  Prince,  and  jealous  of  his 
influence  and  well-earned  reputation  for  statesmanship. 
The  manner  in  which,  years  before,  she  had  taken  from 
him  his  title  of  Adviser  to  the  Government  has  already 
been  described.  Unable  to  dispense  with  his  services, 
desirous  of  profiting  by  his  ripe  experience,  especially  in 
foreign  affairs,  she  had  borne  with  her  Prime  Minister 
grudgingly  and  of  necessity.  In  1884,  however,  she  felt 
strong  enough  to  stand  alone,  and  the  war  with  France 
(caused  by  the  dispute  as  to  China's  claims  to  suzerainty 
over  Tongking)  gave  her  an  opportunity  and  an  excuse 
for  getting  rid  at  one  stroke  of  Prince  Kung  and  his 
colleagues  of  the  Grand  Council. 

The  immediate  pretext  for  their  dismissal  was  the 
^  See  above,  p.  60. 


io6    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

destruction  of  the  Chinese  fleet  of  junks  by  the  French  in 
the  Min  River,  but  Her  Majesty's  real  reason  was  that 
she  believed  that  the  Prince  was  intriguing  against  her 
with  the  young  Emperor,  and  that  he  was  to  some  extent 
responsible  for  a  recent  Memorial,  in  which  several  Censors 
had  roundly  denounced  her  for  depraved  morals  and 
boundless  extravagance. 

Prince  Kung  accordingly  retired  from  the  scene,  to 
remain  in  unemployed  obscurity  until  1894,  when,  after 
the  first  disasters  of  the  war  with  Japan,  Tzu  Hsi,  older 
and  wiser,  turned  to  him  once  more  for  assistance.  He 
never  completely  regained  the  influence  with  the  Empress 
which  he  had  enjoyed  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  first 
Regency,  but  after  his  return  to  office  until  his  death  in 
1898,  his  prestige,  especially  among  foreigners,  was  great. 
Tzu  Hsi,  though  she  loved  him  not,  was  forced  to  admit 
that  he  had  accepted  and  bofne  his  degradation  with 
dignity. 

After  the  issue  of  the  above  Decree,  Prince  Kung  was 
succeeded  in  office  by  Prince  Li,  the  head  of  the  eight 
Princely  families  and  a  descendant  of  a  younger  son  of 
Nurhachi.  With  him  were  associated  on  the  Grand 
Council,  amongst  others,  the  elder  brother  of  Chang  Chih- 
tung  and  Sun  Yu-wen.^  The  latter  was  a  bitter  enemy 
of  the  Imperial  Tutor,  Weng  T'ung-ho.  In  appointing 
him  to  the  Council,  Tzu  Hsi  followed  her  favourite  tactics 
•  of  creating  dissension  among  her  advisers  and  maintaining 
the  equilibrium  of  her  own  authority  as  the  resultant  of 
their  conflicting  forces. 

Her  Majesty's  next  step  aroused  a  storm  of  opposition 
and  criticism.  She  decreed  that  in  all  matters  of  urgency, 
the  Grand  Council,  before  advising  the  Throne,  should 
confer  with  the  Emperor's  father.  Prince  Ch'un,  but  added 
that  upon  the  Emperor's  attaining  his  majority,  she  would 

1  Sun  remained  in  high  favour  until  December  1894,  when  the  Emperor 
was  induced  by  Weng  T'ung-ho  to  dismiss  him.  At  that  time  the 
Empress  was  taking  little  active  part  in  the  direction  of  affairs,  occupy- 
ng  her  time  with  theatricals  and  other  diversions  at  the  Summer  Palace, 
and  playing  a  watching  game  in  politics,  so  that  for  a  while  Sun's  life 
was  in  real  danger. 


TZO  HSI   BECOMES   SOLE  REGENT  107 

issue  further  instructions  on  this  subject.  This  was  not 
only  an  entirely  new  and  irregular  departure,  since  it  made 
the  Emperor's  father  de  facto  head  of  the  executive,  but 
it  implied  the  possibility  of  violation  of  the  solemn  pledges 
given  to  the  nation  in  1875,  as  to  the  provision  of  an  heir  to 
the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih.  Fears  were  once  more  aroused 
in  an  acute  form  that  Prince  Ch'un  might  hereafter  per- 
suade his  son  to  ignore  the  ancestral  claims  of  the  late 
Emperor,  and  thus  constitute  the  house  of  Ch'un  founders 
of  a  new  line.  The  Prince  would  have  great  inducement 
to  adopt  this  policy,  as  it  would  confer  upon  him  and  upon 
his  wife  (Tzil  Hsi's  sister)  Imperial  rank  during  their  lives 
and  Imperial  honours  after  their  death.  The  reign  of 
T'ung-Chih  would  in  that  case  be  practically  expunged, 
going  down  to  posterity  dishonoured  as  the  ignominious 
end  of  the  senior  branch  of  the  Ta  Ching  Dynasty,  and 
the  Yehonala  clan  would  become  of  paramount  influence. 
A  wide  field  would  thus  be  left  for  future  dissensions, 
treasons,  stratagems  and  Court  intrigues.  In  fact  the 
position  thus  created  would  be  somewhat  similar  to  that 
which  arose  from  the  rivalry  of  the  Houses  of  York  and 
Lancaster  in  English  history. 

An  Imperial  Clansman,  named  Sheng  Yii,  and  other 
scholars,  memorialised  in  the  most  urgent  terms  praying 
the  Empress  to  cancel  this  appointment  and  suggesting 
that  if  Prince  Ch'un 's  advice  were  really  needed,  it  should 
be  given  to  herself  direct  and  not  to  the  Grand  Council. 

To  these  remonstrances  Tzu  Hsi  replied:  — 

"There  is  no  doubt  that  the  sage  decisions  of  former  Em- 
perors deserve  to  be  treated  with  every  consideration  and  respect, 
but  it  is  to  be  observed  that,  ever  since  I  assumed  the  Regency, 
I  have  been  by  circumstances  compelled  to  confer  regularly  on 
confidential  business  with  a  Prince  of  the  Blood.  You  must 
all  be  aware  that  this  situation  has  been  forced  upon  me  owing 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  and  was  none  of  my  seeking. 
The  Decree  in  which,  some  days  ago,  I  appointed  Prince  Ch'un 
to  be  Adviser  to  the  Council,  had  no  reference  to  ordinary 
routine  business,  with  which  he  has  no  concern,  but  only  to 
urgent  matters  of  State.  I  had  not,  and  have  not,  any  intention 
of  giving  him  a  definite  appointment,  and  he  himself  was  most 
reluctant  to  accept  at  my  hands  even  this  advisory  position ;  it 


io8    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

was  because  of  his  repeated  entreaties  that  I  promised  to  issue 
further  instructions  in  the  matter  upon  the  Emperor's  reaching 
his  majority.  The  present  arrangement  is  of  a  purely  tem- 
porary nature.  You  cannot  possibly  realise  how  great  and 
numerous  are  the  problems  with  which  I  have  to  deal  single- 
handed.  As  to  the  Grand  Council,  let  them  beware  of  making 
Prince  Ch'un's  position  an  excuse  for  shirking  their  responsi- 
bilities. In  conclusion,  I  wish  that  my  Ministers  would  for  the 
future  pay  more  respect  to  the  motives  which  animate  their 
Sovereign's  actions,  and  abstain  from  troubling  me  with  their 
querulous  criticisms.  The  Memorialists'  requests  are  hereby 
refused." 

Rescripts  of  this  kind  are  curiously  suggestive  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  her  manner  of  dealing  with  similar  petitions 
from  her  loyal  and  dutiful  subjects. 


IX 

TZU   HSI    "en   RETRAITE" 

In  1887  Kuang-Hsu  completed  his  seventeenth  year,  and 
Tzu  Hsi  saw  herself  confronted  by  the  necessity  of  sur- 
rendering to  him  the  outward  and  visible  signs  of 
sovereignty.  The  change  was  naturally  viewed  with  appre- 
hension by  those  of  her  courtiers  and  kinsmen  who  for 
the  last  ten  years  had  basked  in  the  sunshine  of  her  un- 
fettered authority  and  patronage,  whose  places  and  privi- 
leges might  well  be  endangered  by  a  new  regime.  When, 
therefore,  as  in  duty  bound,  she  expressed  a  desire  to  retire 
from  public  life,  it  was  not  surprising  that  urgent  petitions 
and  remonstrances  poured  in,  begging  her  to  continue 
yet  a  little  while  in  control  of  affairs,  nor  that  she  should 
finally  allow  herself  to  be  persuaded.  It  was  not  until 
February  1889  that  she  definitely  handed  over  the  reins 
of  government  to  the  Emperor,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
marriage  to  the  daughter  of  her  brother,  Duke  Kuei 
Hsiang. 

Tzu  Hsi  was  now  fifty-five  years  of  age.  For  nearly 
thirty  years  she  had  been  de  facto  ruler  of  the  Celestial 
Empire.  She  had  tasted  the  sweets  of  autocracy,  had 
satisfied  all  her  instincts  of  dominion,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
she  were  not  unwilling  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  her  labours  and 
to  exchange  the  formal  routine  of  the  Forbidden  City  for 
the  pleasures  and  comparative  freedom  of  life  at  the 
Summer  Palace,  which  was  now  in  course  of  reconstruc- 
tion. Always  avid  of  movement  and  change,  weary  of  the 
increasing  toil  of  audiences  and  Rescripts,  apprehensive, 
too,  of  the  steadily  increasing  pressure  of  the  earth-hungry 
Powers  on  China's  frontiers,  she  could  not  fail  to  be 
attracted  by  the  prospect  of  a  life  of  gilded  leisure  and 
recreation.     Nor  could  she  have  remained  on  the  Throne, 

109 


no    CHINA   UNDER   THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Kuang-Hsii  being  alive,  without  an  overt  and  flagrant  act 
of  usurpation  for  which,  until  he  had  been  tried  and  found 
wanting,  there  was  no  possible  justification.  Certain 
writers,  foreign  and  Chinese,  have  imputed  to  her  at  this 
period  a  policy  of  reenter  pour  mieux  sauter^  suggesting 
that  her  hand,  though  hidden,  was  never  really  withdrawn 
from  the  affairs  of  the  Forbidden  City.  To  some  extent  the 
suggestion  is  justifiable;  but  Tzu  Hsi's  retirement  in  the 
I-Ho  Yiian  lasted,  roughly  speaking,  for  ten  years,  during 
a  considerable  portion  of  which  period  she  undoubtedly 
ceased  to  concern  herself  with  affairs  of  State,  other  than 
those  which  directly  affected  the  replenishing  of  her  privy 
purse. 

But  while  divesting  herself  of  the  outward  and  visible 
signs  of  rulership,  Tzu  Hsi  had  no  intention  of  becoming 
a  negligible  quantity,  or  of  losing  touch  with  current 
events.  From  her  luxurious  retreat  at  the  foot  of  the  hills 
which  shelter  Peking,  she  could  keep  close  watch  on  the 
doings  of  the  Emperor,  and  protect  the  interests  of  her 
personal  adherents  in  the  capital  and  the  provinces.  Her 
power  of  appointing  and  dismissing  officials,  which  drew 
much  of  its  inspiration  from  the  Chief  Eunuch,  was  never 
surrendered. 

In  marrying  the  Emperor  to  her  favourite  niece,  Tzu  Hsi 
intended  to  avoid  a  repetition  of  the  mistake  which  she  had 
committed  in  the  case  of  her  son,  the  Emperor  T'ung- 
Chih,  whose  marriage  with  the  virtuous  and  courageous 
A-lu-te  had  resulted  in  dangerous  intrigues  against  herself, 
until  death  had  removed  the  offenders.  Warned  by  this 
experience,  she  made  her  selection  in  the  present  instance 
less  with  a  view  to  the  Emperor's  felicity  than  to  the 
furtherance  of  her  own  purposes,  which  necessitated  the 
presence  by  his  side  of  someone  who  would  watch  over, 
and  report  on,  his  proceedings  and  proclivities.  This  part 
her  niece  played  to  perfection.  In  appearance  she  was 
unattractive,  and  in  disposition  and  temper  unsympathetic, 
but  she  possessed  a  considerable  share  of  the  Yehonala 
intelligence  and  strength  of  will.  From  the  very  first  she 
was  on  bad  terms  with  the  Emperor.  It  was  no  secret  at 
Court  that  they  indulged  in  fierce  and  protracted  quarrels. 


TZU  HSI   'EN  RETRAITE'  iii 

in  which  the  young  Empress  generally  came  off  victorious. 
As  a  natural  result,  Kuang-Hsii  developed  and  showed  a 
marked  preference  for  the  society  of  his  two  senior  concu- 
bines, known  respectively  as  the  "  Pearl  "  and  **  Lustrous  *' 
consorts. 

Upon  the  Emperor's  assumption  of  rulership,  there  was 
shown  a  strong  feeling  amongst  the  senior  members  of 
the  Yehonala  clan  that  the  opportunity  should  be  taken  to 
consolidate  its  position  and  power  by  conferring  on  the 
Emperor's  father  rank  in  the  hierarchy  higher  than  that 
which  he  had  hitherto  held,  with  a  view  to  his  ultimate 
canonisation  as  Emperor.  The  manner  in  which  this  pro- 
posal was  put  forward,  and  Tzu  Hsi's  refusal  to  act  upon 
it — while  giving  all  possible  "face"  to  Prince  Ch'un — 
threw  much  light  upon  some  of  the  undercurrents  of 
China's  dynastic  affairs  which  are  so  difficult  for  Europeans 
to  follow. 

Shortly  after  Tzu  Hsi's  retirement  from  public  affairs 
the  Emperor's  father.  Prince  Ch'un,  fell  ill  of  a  sickness 
which  increased  until,  on  ist  January  1891,  he  died.  In 
1890  the  Censorate,  deeply  concerned  for  a  strict  observ- 
ance of  the  laws  and  ceremonial  etiquette  of  filial  piety, 
took  occasion,  in  a  Memorial  of  remonstrance,  to  draw 
Her  Majesty's  attention  to  her  duty,  and  that  of  the 
Emperor,  of  visiting  the  invalid.  Tzu  Hsi's  reply  took 
the  form  of  a  rebuke  to  the  Censors,  whom  she  bluntly 
directed  to  mind  their  own  business,  in  a  manner  which 
forcibly  brings  to  mind  Queen  Elizabeth's  methods  of 
dealing  with  similar  remonstrances.  Nevertheless  she  took 
the  hint  and  thenceforward,  throughout  the  summer  of 
1890,  she  paid  repeated  visits  to  Prince  Ch'un's  bedside. 

This  Prince  had  always  been  a  favourite  with  Tzu  Hsi, 
who  greatly  preferred  him  to  his  elder  brothers;  she  re- 
gretted his  death  and  felt  the  loss  of  his  wise  and  fearless 
counsel,  which  had  often  guided  her  policy.  He  was  a 
staunch  Manchu,  jealous  of  the  power  and  privileges  of 
the  Clans,  and  will  long  be  remembered  in  Chinese  history 
for  the  remark  which  he  made  at  a  meeting  of  the  Council 
after  the  campaign  in  Tongking.  "It  were  better,"  said 
he,  "to  hand  over  the  Empire  to  the  foreign  devils,  than 


112    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

to  surrender  it  at  the  dictation  of  these  Chinese  rebels," 
a  remark  which  was  prompted  by  the  growing  discontent 
of  the  province  of  Canton  against  the  Manchus  and  their 
rule. 

In  her  Decree  recording  the  Prince's  death  and  praising 
his  eminent  services  as  Chamberlain  of  the  Palace,  Head 
of  the  Navy  ^  and  Commander  of  the  Manchu  Field  Force, 
Tzu  Hsi  gave  detailed  instructions  for  the  mourning  and 
funeral  ceremonies,  presenting  in  her  own  name  a  Tibetan 
prayer  coverlet  for  the  body.  She  conferred  upon  him  the 
somewhat  obvious  (but  according  to  Chinese  ideas,  highly 
honourable)  title  of  "deceased  father  of  the  Emperor  "  and 
ordered  that  the  funeral  should  be  upon  a  scale  "which 
shall  simultaneously  display  His  Majesty's  favour  and 
his  sense  of  filial  piety,"  due  care  being  taken  at  the  same 
time  not  to  outrage  the  deceased's  conspicuous  modesty. 
By  these  means,  which  were  in  accordance  with  her  guid- 
ing principle  of  the  "happy  mean,"  she  hoped  to  set  at 
rest  all  question  of  "  usurpmg  tendencies  "  and  to  reassure 
the  Aisin  Gioros  as  to  their  fears  of  the  undue  ambition  of 
the  house  of  Ch'un.  Finally,  in  accordance  with  the  pre- 
cedent established  by  the  Emperor  Ch'ien-Lung,  she 
decreed  that  the  late  Prince's  residence  should  be  divided 
into  two  portions,  one  to  be  set  aside  as  his  own  ancestral 
Hall  and  the  other  as  a  shrine  (it  being  the  birthplace) 
of  His  Majesty  Kuang-Hsu. 

In  1894  the  Empress  Dowager  reached  her  sixtieth  year, 
which,  according  to  Chinese  ideas,  is  an  event  calling  for 
special  thanksgiving  and  honour.  Secure  in  her  great  and 
increasing  popularity,  safely  entrenched  in  her  prestige  and 
influence,  the  Old  Buddha  had  expected  to  devote  her 
leisure  at  the  Summer  Palace  to  preparations  for  celebrat- 
ing this  anniversary  on  a  scale  of  unparalleled  magnifi- 
cence. The  I-Ho  YiJan,  as  the  Summer  Palace  is  called,^ 
had  been  entirely  rebuilt,  by  the  Emperor's  orders,  with 

1  The  results  of  the  Prince's  eminent  services  in  naval  and  military 
reorganisation  were  demonstrated  three  years  later,  not  entirely  to  the 
nation's  satisfaction,  in  the  war  with  Japan. 

2  From  a  sentence  in  the  Book  of  Rites,  which  means  "  to  give  rest  and 
peace  to  Heaven-sent  old  age." 


TZtJ  HSI   'EN  RETRAITE'  113 

funds  taken  from  the  Navy  Department  and  other  Govern- 
ment Boards  since  1889,  and  had  just  been  completed. 
Most  of  the  high  provincial  authorities  had  been  summoned 
to  the  capital  to  take  part  m  these  festivities  (and,  incident- 
ally, to  help  to  pay  for  them),  and  amongst  them  the 
faithful  Jung  Lu  returned  once  more  to  his  mistress's  side, 
in  high  favour,  as  General  in  command  of  the  Forces  at 
Peking.  (For  the  last  three  years  he  had  been  at  Hsi-an, 
holding  the  sinecure  post  of  Tartar  General.)  Every  high 
official  in  the  Empire  had  been  "invited"  to  contribute 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  his  salary  as  a  birthday  gift  to  Her 
Majesty,  and  the  total  amount  of  these  offerings  must  have 
amounted  to  several  millions  of  taels.  Everything  pointed 
to  festivities  of  great  splendour;  orders  had  already  been 
given  for  the  erection  of  triumphal  arches  in  her  honour 
throughout  the  whole  five  miles  of  the  Imperial  highway 
between  Peking  and  the  Summer  Palace,  when  the  con- 
tinued disasters  which  overtook  China's  forces,  imme- 
diately after  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Japan,  caused 
Her  Majesty  to  reconsider  the  situation,  and  eventually 
to  cancel  all  arrangements  for  the  celebration.  In  the 
Emperor's  name  she  issued  the  following  somewhat 
pathetic  Decree ;  — 

"The  auspicious  occasion  of  my  sixtieth  birthday,  occurring 
in  the  loth  Moon  of  this  year,  was  to  have  been  a  joyful  event, 
in  which  the  whole  nation  would  unite  in  paying  to  me  loyal 
and  dutiful  homage.  It  had  been  intended  that  His  Majesty 
the  Emperor,  accompanied  by  the  whole  Court,  should  proceed 
to  offer  congratulations  to  me,  and  make  obeisance  at  the 
Summer  Palace,  and  my  officials  and  people  have  subscribed 
funds  wherewith  to  raise  triumphal  arches,  and  to  decorate  the 
Imperial  highway  throughout  its  entire  length  from  Peking  to 
the  1-Ho  Yiian;  high  altars  have  been  erected  where  Buddhist 
Sutras  were  to  have  been  recited  in  my  honour.  I  was  not 
disposed  to  be  unduly  obstinate  and  to  insist  on  refusing  these 
honours,  because,  at  the  time  that  the  celebration  was  planned, 
my  people  were  enjoying  peace  and  prosperity ;  moreover,  there 
is  precedent  for  such  displays  of  pageantry  and  rejoicing  in  the 
occasions  on  which  the  Emperors  K'ang-Hsi  and  Ch'ien-Lung 
celebrated  their  sixtieth  birthdays.  I,  therefore,  consented  to 
His  Majesty's  filial  request,  and  decided  to  receive  birthday 
congratulations  at  the  Summer  Palace.     Who  would  ever  have 


114    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

anticipated  that  the  Japanese  (literally,  *  dwarf  men  ')  would 
have  dared  to  force  us  into  hostilities,  and  that  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  summer  they  have  invaded  our  tributary  State 
(Corea)  and  destroyed  our  fleet  ?  We  had  no  alternative  but  to 
draw  the  sword  and  to  commence  a  punitive  campaign ;  at  this 
moment  our  armies  are  pressing  to  the  front.  The  people  of 
both  nations  (China  and  Corea)  are  now  involved  in  all  the 
horrors  of  war,  and  I  am  continually  haunted  by  the  thought 
of  their  distress;  therefore,  I  have  issued  a  grant  of  three 
million  taels  from  my  privy  purse  for  the  maintenance  and  relief 
of  our  troops  at  the  front. 

"Although  the  date  of  my  birthday  is  drawing  close,  how 
could  I  have  the  heart,  at  such  a  time,  to  delight  my  senses 
with  revelries,  or  to  receive  from  my  subjects  congratulations 
which  could  only  be  sincere  if  we  had  won  a  glorious  victory? 
I  therefore  decree  that  the  ceremonies  to  be  observed  on  my 
birthday  shall  be  performed  at  the  Palace  in  Peking,  and  all 
preparations  at  the  Summer  Palace  shall  be  abandoned  forthwith. 
The  words  of  the  Empress." 

To  which  the  Emperor  adds  the  filial  remark  on  his  own 
account :  "That  Her  Majesty  had  acted  in  accordance  with 
the  admirable  virtue  which  always  distinguished  her,  and 
that,  in  spite  of  his  own  wishes,  he  was  bound  reverently 
to  obey  her  orders  in  the  matter." 

China's  complete  and  ignominious  defeat  by  the  Japanese 
forces  undoubtedly  inflicted  no  small  loss  of  prestige  on  the 
Manchu  Dynasty,  and  was  a  direct  cause  of  the  violent 
agitation  of  the  Southern  Provinces  for  reform,  which  led 
in  turn  to  the  coup  d'etat  and  to  the  Boxer  rising.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  war  could  have  been  avoided  without 
even  greater  sacrifices  and  humiliation,  and  the  Empress 
Dowager  showed  her  usual  sagacity  therefore  in  refrain- 
ing from  expressing  any  opinion  or  taking  any  share  of 
responsibility  in  the  decision  taken  by  the  Emperor.  She 
knew,  moreover,  that,  by  the  action  and  advice  of  her  Chief 
Eunuch,  the  Navy  had  for  years  been  starved  in  order 
to  provide  her  with  funds  to  rebuild  and  decorate  the 
Summer  Palace,  a  fact  of  which  some  of  China's  most 
distinguished  advisers  were  at  that  time  unaware. 

As  Viceroy  of  the  Metropolitan  Province,  Li  Hung- 
chang  was  generally  blamed  for  advising  the  Court  to 
maintain  China's  suzerainty  over  Corea  by  force  of  arms, 


TZtr  HSI   *EN   RETRAITE*  115 

but,  speaking  from  personal  knowledge  of  this  subject,  we 
may  state  that,  like  many  other  Ministers  similarly  situated, 
he  hesitated  until  the  very  last  moment  before  taking  risks 
which  he  knew  to  be  enormous  in  both  directions.     The 
documents  upon  which  history  might  have  been  written 
with  full  knowledge  of  the  facts  were  unfortunately  de- 
stroyed in  the  Viceroy's  Yamen  at  Tientsin  and  in  the 
Inspector-General  of  Customs'  quarters  at  Peking,  in  1900, 
so  that  the  immediate  cause  of  that  disastrous  war  will 
probably   never   be   established   with   complete   accuracy. 
Li  Hung-chang  was  aware  that  twice  already  Japan  had 
been  bought  off  from  a  war  of  aggression  against  China, 
the  first  time  (in  1874)  by  payment  of  an  indemnity,  and 
again  (in  1885)  by  admitting  her  to  a  share  in  the  control 
of  Corea,  a  concession  which  had  led  directly  to  the  present 
crisis.     He  realised  that  even  had  he  been  willing  to  sur- 
render China's  rights  over  Corea  (which  were  of  no  real 
advantage   to   the    Chinese    Government)    the    concession 
might  have  purchased  peace  for  the  time  being,  but  it  would 
certainly  have  led  before  long  to  the  loss  of  the  Manchurian 
Provinces ;  just  as  certainly,  in  fact,  as  the  doom  of  those 
provinces   was   sealed   in    1905,    on   the   day   that   China 
acquiesced  in  the  terms  of  the  Portsmouth  Treaty.  Japan's 
attack  on  China's  positions  was  diplomatically  as  unjustifi- 
able as  the  methods  which  she  adopted  in  commencing 
hostilities.     Li  Hung-chang  was  fully  aware  of  the  pre- 
parations  that  Japan    had   been   making   for   years,  and 
equally  aware  of  the  disorganised  state  of  his  own  naval 
and  military  resources,  but  he  was  surrounded  by  officials 
who,  like  the  Manchus  in  1900,  were  convinced  of  China's 
immense  superiority  and  he  was  assured  by  the  Chinese 
Resident  in  Corea  (Yiian  Shih-k'ai)  that  help  would  be 
forthcoming  from  England  in  the  event  of  Japan's  com- 
mencing hostilities.     There  was  no  doubt  of  the  British 
Government's  sympathy,   which   was  clearly  reflected  in 
the  attitude  and  actions  of  the  Consul-General  at  Seoul. 

Chinese  historians  have  openly  accused  Li  Hung-chang 
of  instigating  the  Court  and  the  Emperor  to  a  war  of 
aggression,  and  the  accusation  has  been  generally  credited 


ii6      CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

abroad.  The  truth  is,  that  while  Li  was  originally  all  in 
favour  of  sending  a  Chinese  force  to  suppress  the  Corean 
insurrection,  he  became  opposed  to  taking  any  steps  that 
might  lead  to  war  with  Japan,  as  soon  as  he  realised  that 
war  was  Japan's  object;  nevertheless,  it  is  certain  that,  in 
the  last  instance,  he  was  persuaded  against  his  better  judg- 
ment by  the  military  enthusiasm  of  his  German  advisers, 
and  that  the  sending  of  the  ill-fated  Kow-hsing  and  her 
doomed  crew  to  Corea  was  a  step  which  he  authorised 
only  after  consultation  with  Peking  and  in  full  knowledge 
of  the  fact  that  it  meant  war.  No  sooner  had  the  Kow- 
hsing  been  sunk,  and  the  first  military  disasters  of  the 
campaign  reported,  than  he  naturally  endeavoured  to  mini- 
mise his  own  share  of  responsibility  in  the  matter. 

Foreigners  blamed  him  for  making  war  on  Japan,  while 
his  own  countrymen  attacked  him  for  betraying  China  to 
the  Japanese,  as  they  subsequently  attacked  him  for  selling 
Manchuria  to  Russia.  Tzu  Hsi  had  no  great  love  for  the 
Viceroy,  although  she  admired  his  remarkable  intelligence 
and  adroit  methods ;  but  when,  after  the  war,  he  was 
fiercely  attacked  by  several  of  the  Censors,  and  when  she 
found  her  own  name  associated  with  the  blame  imputed  to 
him,  she  loyally  defended  him,  as  was  her  wont.  In  1895 
a  Censor  named  An  Wei-chiin  boldly  blamed  Her  Majesty 
and  the  Viceroy  for  the  disasters  which  had  overtaken 
China.  In  reply  to  this  extremely  outspoken  document, 
the  Emperor  issued  the  following  Decree,  which  bears 
unmistakable  signs  of  Tzu  Hsi's  hand.  The  attack  upon 
her  favourite,  Li  Lien-ying,  was  in  itself  sufficient  to  bring 
her  to  the  front,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  at  the  time 
she  was  keeping  very  close  watch  on  the  Emperor's  pro- 
ceedings, and  regularly  perusing  all  State  papers. 

"Owing  to  the  seriousness  of  recent  events,  we  have  been 
particularly  anxious  of  late  to  receive  and  attend  to  the  un- 
prejudiced suggestions  of  our  Censors,  and  we  have  abstained 
from  punishing  any  of  them,  even  when  they  have  made  use 
of  improper  expressions  in  addressing  us.  With  the  gracious 
consent  of  Her  Majesty  the  Empress  Dowager,  we  have  given 
particular  attention  to  all  projects  whereby  the  welfare  of  our 
people  may  be  advanced,  and  all  our  people  must  by  this  time 


TZH  HSI   'EN   RETRAITE'  117 

be  aware  of  our  sincere  desire  to  promote  good  Government. 
In  spite  of  this,  the  Censor,  An  Wei-chun,  has  to-day  submitted 
a  Memorial  based  entirely  upon  rumours,  and  containing  the 
following  sentence :  *  How  can  you  j>ossibly  justify  your 
position  before  your  ancestors  and  to  your  subjects  if  you  permit 
the  Empress  Dowager  still  to  dictate  to  you,  or  to  interfere  in 
the  business  of  the  State?  * 

"Language  of  this  kind  reveals  depths  of  audacity  unspeak- 
able, the  unbridled  licence  of  a  madman's  tongue.  Were  we 
to  fail  in  inflicting  stern  punishment  in  a  case  of  this  kind,  the 
result  might  well  be  to  produce  estrangement  between  Her 
Majesty  the  Empress  and  ourselves.  The  Censor  is,  therefore, 
dismissed  from  office  and  sentenced  to  banishment  at  the  post- 
roads,  on  the  western  frontier  where  he  shall  expiate  his  guilt 
and  serve  as  a  wholesome  warning  to  others.  His  Memorial  is 
handed  back  to  him  with  the  contempt  it  deserves." 

Tzu  Hsi  felt  deeply  the  humiliation  of  her  country's 
defeat  by  the  Japanese,  a  race  which,  as  Chinese  historians 
never  fail  to  remind  themselves,  took  its  first  lessons  in 
civilisation  and  culture  from  Chinese  scholars  and  artists. 
Anxious  at  all  costs  to  avoid  another  invasion  of  Chihli 
by  the  conquerors,  she  approved  the  Treaty  of  Peace, 
especially  when  assured  by  Li  Hung-chang  that  Russia 
and  her  Continental  allies  would  not  allow  Japan  to  annex 
any  portion  of  the  Manchurian  Provinces.  As  above 
stated,  she  declined  to  permit  Li  to  be  made  a  scapegoat 
either  by  her  chagrined  Manchu  kinsmen  or  by  his  fierce 
critics  in  the  south,  for  she  recognised  the  difficulty  of  his 
position,  and  the  fact  that  he  was  not  directly  responsible 
for  the  deplorable  condition  of  China's  defences.  But, 
woman-like,  she  had  to  blame  someone  for  the  disasters 
that  had  deprived  her  and  her  capital  of  festivities  whose 
splendour  should  have  gone  down,  making  her  name 
glorious,  to  all  posterity ;  and  it  was  not  surprising,  there- 
fore, if  she  heaped  reproaches  on  the  Emperor  for  entering 
upon  so  disastrous  a  war  without  her  full  knowledge  and 
consent.  It  was  at  this  time  that  began  the  estrangement 
which  thenceforward  gradually  grew  into  the  open  hostility 
and  secret  plottings  of  1898,  the  long  bitterness  between 
Tzu  Hsi  and  her  nephew  which  was  to  divide  the  Palace 
into  camps  of  strife,  and  to  cease  only  with  their  death. 


ii8    CHINA   UNDER  THE   EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

From  this  time  also,  as  they  aver  who  were  in  close  touch 
with  the  life  of  the  Court,  the  Emperor's  Consort,^  Tzu 
Hsi*s  niece,  became  openly  alienated  from  him,  and  their 
relations  grew  more  severely  strained  as  his  reform  tenden- 
cies developed  and  took  shape.  From  1894  to  1896  there 
was  no  noticeable  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  Emperor 
to  his  august  aunt,  nor  any  diminution  of  his  respectful 
attentions,  but  the  man  in  the  street  knew  well,  as  he 
always  knows  in  China,  of  the  rift  in  the  lute,  and  when, 
in  1896,  the  Emperor's  mother  (Tzu  Hsi's  sister)  died,  it 
was  realised  that  the  last  bond  of  amity  and  possible  recon- 
ciliation between  Kuang-Hsii  and  the  Empress  Dowager 
had  been  severed. 

1  Subsequently  known  as  the  Empress  Dowager  Lung  Yii. 


THE  REFORM   MOVEMENT   OF    1 898 

At  the  beginning  of  1898  the  Grand  Council  was  com- 
posed of  the  following  officials :  Prince  Kung,  the  Em- 
peror's uncle,  Prince  Li,  whose  son  was  married  to  Jung 
Lu's  daughter,  Kang  Yi,^  Liao  Shou-heng  and  Weng 
T*ung-ho,  the  Grand  Secretary  and  ex-tutor  to  the  Em- 
peror. The  Empress  Dowager  was  still  leading  her  life 
of  dignified  leisure  at  the  Summer  Palace,  generally  in 
company  with  her  two  confidential  friends,  the  wife  of  Jung 
Lu  and  her  adopted  daughter,  the  Princess  Imperial.  By 
all  accounts  she  was  amusing  herself  with  picnics  on  the 
K'un  Ming  lake,  elaborate  theatrical  performances  and 
excursions  to  the  neighbouring  temples  and  hill  shrines, 
devoting  her  leisure  from  these  pursuits  to  verse-making 
and  painting,  but  keeping  herself  fully  informed,  through 
Kang  Yi  and  Prince  Li,  of  all  that  took  place  in  the  For- 
bidden City.  Although  leaving  the  conduct  of  State  affairs 
to  the  Emperor,  she  occasionally  visited  the  city  for  a  day 
or  two,  while  the  Emperor,  on  his  side,  punctiliously 
repaired  to  the  Summer  Palace  five  or  six  times  a  month 
to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Old  Buddha.  Their  relations 
at  this  period  were  outwardly  friendly.  Kuang-Hsii  never 
failed  to  consult  Her  Majesty  before  the  issue  of  any  im- 
portant Decree,  and  Tzu  Hsi  was  usually  most  cordial  in 
her  manner  towards  him.  She  had,  it  is  true,  occasion  to 
reprove  him  more  than  once  on  account  of  reports  which 
reached  her,  through  the  eunuchs,  of  his  violent  temper 
and  alleged  bad  treatment  of  his  attendants,  reports  which 

^  Kang  Yi  was  a  bigoted  reactionary  and  the  arch  instigator  of  the 
Boxer  movement  at  the  capital.  Young  China  has  carefully  preserved 
one  of  his  sayings  of  that  time  :  "  The  establishment  of  schools  and 
colleges  has  only  encouraged  Chinese  ambitions  and  developed  Chinese 
talent  to  the  danger  of  the  Manchu  Dynasty  :  the  students  should 
therefore  be  exterminated  without  delay." 

119 


120    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

were  probably  instigated  and  exaggerated  by  Li  Lien-ying 
for  his  own  purposes.  But  Kuang-Hsii,  as  events  subse- 
quently proved,  was  fully  aware  of  the  iron  hand  in  the 
velvet  glove.  Whenever  the  Empress  came  to  Peking,  he 
obeyed  strictly  the  etiquette  which  required  him  reverently 
to  kneel  at  the  Palace  gates  to  welcome  her.  When  visit- 
ing her  at  the  Summer  Palace,  he  was  not  permitted  to 
announce  his  arrival  in  person,  but  was  obliged  to  kneel 
at  the  inner  gate  and  there  await  the  summons  of  admis- 
sion from  the  Chief  Eunuch.  Li,  who  hated  him,  delighted 
in  keeping  him  waiting,  sometimes  as  much  as  half  an 
hour,  before  informing  the  Old  Buddha  of  his  presence. 
At  each  of  these  visits  he  was  compelled,  like  any  of  the 
Palace  officials,  to  pay  his  way  by  large  fees  to  the 
eunuchs  in  attendance  on  Her  Majesty,  and  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  these  myrmidons  treated  him  with  considerably  less 
respect  than  they  showed  to  many  high  Manchu  digni- 
taries. Within  the  Palace  precincts,  the  Son  of  Heaven 
was  indeed  regarded  as  of  little  account,  so  that  the 
initiative  and  determination  which  he  displayed  during 
the  hundred  days  of  reforms  in  the  summer  of  1898  came 
as  a  disturbing  surprise  to  many  at  Court  and  showed  that, 
given  an  opportunity,  he  was  not  wholly  unworthy  of  the 
Yehonala  blood  of  his  mother,  Tzu  Hsi's  sister. 

The  official  who  had  hitherto  exercised  most  influence 
over  the  Emperor  was  Weng  T'ung-ho,  the  Imperial  tutor. 
He  had  only  rejoined  the  Grand  Council  in  November 
1894,  ^t  the  critical  time  when  the  disastrous  opening  of 
the  war  with  Japan  had  brought  about  the  dismissal  of  the 
former  Council;  but  as  Imperial  tutor  he  had  had  the 
entree  of  the  Palace  ever  since  the  Emperor  was  five  years 
old.  He  was  the  leader  of  the  southern  party  in  the  capital. 
A  native  of  Kiangsu  (the  birthplace  of  all  the  greatest 
scholars  of  China  during  the  present  Dynasty,  and  the 
centre  of  national  culture),  he  hated  the  narrow  conservat- 
ism of  the  Manchus,  and  included  in  his  dislike  the  Chinese 
of  the  Metropolitan  Provinces,  whose  politics  and  point  of 
view  were  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Manchus.  The  strife 
between  north  and  south  really  dated  from  the  beginning 


THE  REFORM  MOVEMENT  OF  1898    121 

of  Kuang-Hsu's  reign.  The  two  protagonists  on  the 
northern  side  were  Hsii  T'ung,  a  well-educated  Chinese 
Bannerman  (for  all  practical  purposes,  a  Manchu  at  heart) 
who  had  been  tutor  to  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih;  and  Li 
Hung-tsao,  a  native  of  Chihli,  who  had  joined  the  Grand 
Council  at  the  same  time  as  Weng  T'ung-ho.  The 
southern  party  was  led  by  Weng  T'ung-ho  and  P'an  Tsu- 
yin,  the  latter  a  native  of  Soochow  and  a  most  brilliant 
scholar  and  essayist.  It  is  necessary  to  dwell  on  this  party 
strife  and  its  development,  because  it  was  the  first  cause 
of  the  reform  movement  of  1898,  of  the  subsequent  resump- 
tion of  the  Regency  by  Tzu  Hsi,  and,  eventually,  of  the 
Boxer  rising. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  these  four  high  officials  had 
been  colleagues  in  Peking,  meeting  one  another  constantly 
in  social  as  well  as  official  circles.  Their  literary  argu- 
ments, in  which  the  quick-witted  southerners  generally 
scored,  were  the  talk  of  the  capital.  All  four  men  bore 
good  reputations  for  integrity,  so  that  literary  graduates 
entering  official  life  were  glad  to  become  their  proteges; 
but  the  adherents  of  the  southern  party  were  the  more 
numerous.  This  fact  aroused  the  jealousy  of  Li  and  Hsii, 
which  grew  until  it  found  vent  publicly  at  the  metropolitan 
examination  for  the  "Chin  Shih,"  or  Doctor's,  degree  in 
1889,  on  which  occasion  Li  was  Grand  Examiner  and  P'an 
Tsu-yin  his  chief  Associate.  P'an,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
select  the  best  essays,  recommended  a  native  of  Kiangu  for 
the  high  honour  of  Optimus,  but  Li  declined  to  endorse  his 
decision,  and  gave  the  award  to  a  Chihli  man.  P'an 
thereupon  openly  accused  Li  of  prejudice  and  unfairness 
towards  the  southerner,  and  twitted  him  besides  on  his 
second-rate  scholarship. 

At  the  time  of  Russia's  seizure  of  Hi,  in  1880,  Hsii  T'ung 
and  Weng  T'ung-ho  were  respectively  Presidents  of  the 
Boards  of  Ceremonies  and  Works.  At  a  conference  of  the 
highest  officials,  held  in  the  Palace,  Weng  declared  him- 
self in  favour  of  war  with  Russia,  but  Hsii,  after  promising 
to  support  him,  left  him  in  the  lurch  at  the  last  moment, 
causing  him  discomfiture  and  loss  of  face.     Hence,  bitter 


122    CHINA   UNDER   THE   EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

enmity  between  them,  which  increased  in  intensity  when 
they  became  the  leaders  of  the  rival  factions.  Weng  was 
also  on  bad  terms  with  Jung  Lu,  who  had  never  forgiven 
him  for  the  part  he  played  in  1880,  when  Weng  denounced 
his  impious  liaison  to  the  Empress  Dowager  and  brought 
about  his  dismissal.  Jung  Lu,  as  a  loyal  Manchu,  naturally 
favoured  the  northern  faction  and  his  personal  feelings 
prompted  him  in  the  same  direction. 

The  enmity  between  the  rival  parties  increased  steadily 
in  the  early  'nineties,  and  when  Li  and  Weng  were 
appointed  to  the  Grand  Council,  in  1894,  the  Court  itself 
became  involved  in  their  strife,  the  Empress  siding  with 
the  north  and  the  Emperor  with  the  south.  At  that  time 
people  were  wont  to  speak  of  the  Li  faction  and  the  Weng 
faction,  but  later  they  came  to  be  known  as  the  Empress 
Dowager's  party,  irreverently  nicknamed  the  "Old  Mother 
set,"  and  the  Emperor's  party,  or  "Small  Lad's  set." 
Both  P'an  and  Li  died  in  1897.  It  was  after  the  latter's 
death  that  Hsii  T'ung  began  to  instigate  secret  and  sinister 
designs  against  the  Emperor,  whom  he  called  a  Chinese 
traitor.  Hsii  T'ung,  having  been  tutor  to  T'ung  Chih, 
naturally  enjoyed  considerable  influence  with  the  Empress, 
but  Kuang-Hsii  flatly  refused  to  have  him  on  the  Grand 
Council.  So  great  was  his  dislike  for  the  old  man  that  he 
only  received  him  once  in  audience  between  1887  and  1898. 
Hsii  had  a  valuable  ally  in  Kang  Yi,  who  hated  all 
Chinese,  southerners  and  northerners  alike,  and  whose 
influence  was  used  effectively  to  sow  dissension  between 
Tzu  Hsi  and  the  Emperor.  In  1897  Kang  Yi  urged  the 
Emperor  to  give  orders  that  the  Manchu  troops  should  be 
efficiently  trained  and  equipped.  Kuang-Hsii  replied : 
"You  persist,  it  seems,  in  the  exploded  idea  that  the 
Manchu  soldiery  are  good  fighting  men.  I  tell  you  that 
they  are  absolutely  useless."  Kang  Yi,  highly  incensed, 
promptly  informed  the  Old  Buddha  and  the  Iron-capped 
Princes  that  the  Emperor  was  the  enemy  of  all  Manchus, 
and  was  plotting  to  appoint  Chinese  to  all  high  offices,  a 
statement  which  naturally  created  a  strong  feeling  against 
His  Majesty  at  Court. 


THE  REFORM  MOVEMENT  OF  1898    123 

Even  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Empire  felt  the  effects  of 
this  rivalry  of  the  opposing  parties  in  the  capital.  The 
Empress,  the  Manchus,  and  the  Chinese  Bannermen  were 
in  favour  of  coming  to  an  understanding  with  Russia, 
while  the  Emperor,  Weng,  and  the  southern  Chinese, 
inclined  to  a  rapprochement  with  Japan,  with  a  view  to 
imitation  of  that  country's  successful  reforms.  Li  Hung- 
chang  counted  for  little  at  the  time,  the  fact  being  that, 
owing  to  his  alleged  responsibility  for  the  war  with  Japan, 
his  opinions  were  at  a  discount;  but  such  influence  as  he 
had  was  used  against  the  Emperor's  party.  Prince  Kung, 
the  doyen  of  the  Imperial  family,  to  whose  ripe  judgment 
the  Empress  herself  would  yield  at  times,  was  the  only 
high  Manchu  to  maintain  friendly  relations  with  the 
Chinese  party.  A  fine  scholar  himself,  he  had  always 
admired  Weng  T'ung-ho's  literary  gifts;  the  war  with 
Japan  had  been  none  of  his  seeking,  and  he  had  been 
recalled  to  the  Grand  Council,  at  the  same  time  as  Weng, 
after  a  retirement  of  fourteen  years. 

The  fact  is  not  generally  known  that  Weng  T'ung-ho 
was  most  anxious  at  this  time  to  be  sent  as  Special  Envoy 
to  the  coronation  of  the  Czar,  for  the  reason  that,  realising 
the  Empress  Dowager's  growing  hostility  towards  himself, 
he  wished  to  be  out  of  harm's  way  in  the  crisis  which  he 
felt  to  be  impending.  By  a  Decree  of  1895  Weng  had 
been  "excused  from  further  attendance  to  instruct  His 
Majesty  at  the  Palace  of  Happy  Education,"  so  that  he 
could  no  longer  influence  His  Majesty,  as  heretofore,  at 
all  times  and  seasons,  and  his  rivals  were  thus  enabled 
successfully  to  misrepresent  him. 

Prince  Kung,  the  head  of  the  Grand  Council,  went  on 
sick  furlough  at  the  beginning  of  1898,  afflicted  with 
incurable  lung  and  heart  complaints.  The  Emperor  accom- 
panied the  Empress  Dowager  on  three  occasions  to  visit 
him  at  his  residence,  and  ordered  the  Imperial  physicians 
to  attend  him.  On  the  loth  day  of  the  4th  Moon  he  died, 
and  Tzu  Hsi  recorded  her  grief  at  his  loss  in  a  sympathetic 
Decree. 

His  death  was  a  serious  matter.    On  the  one  hand  the 


124    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Manchu  party  lost  in  him  its  senior  representative,  an 
elder  whose  wise  counsel  had  guided  them,  and  a  states- 
man whose  influence  had  been  steadily  exercised  against 
their  tendencies  towards  an  anti-Chinese  and  anti-foreign 
policy.  As  the  last  survivor  of  the  sons  of  Tao-Kuang, 
he  held,  vis-d-vis  the  Empress  Dowager,  a  position  very 
different  from  that  of  the  other  princes,  his  contemporaries. 
/  It  is  probable  that,  had  he  survived,  there  would  have 
^  been  no  Boxer  rising.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Emperor 
had  always  deferred  to  Prince  Kung's  advice,  and  it  was 
not  until  after  his  death  that  he  embarked  headlong  on  the 
reform  schemes  of  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his  associates,  many 
of  which  the  Prince,  though  no  bigoted  Conservative, 
would  certainly  have  condemned.  To  Weng  T'ung-ho 
also  the  loss  was  serious,  as  well  he  knew,  for  Prince 
Kung  had  been  his  best  friend 

It  was  shortly  after  the  Prince's  death  that  Weng  recom- 
mended K'ang  Yu-wei  to  the  Emperor's  notice,  informing 
His  Majesty  that  K'ang's  abilities  were  far  superior  to  his 
own.  Weng  undoubtedly  hoped  that  K'ang  would  gain 
the  Sovereign's  favour  and  use  it  to  assist  the  southern 
party  against  the  Manchus,  and  especially  against  his  arch 
enemies,  Kang  Yi  and  HsU  T'ung ;  but  he  certainly  never 
anticipated  that  K'ang  would  go  so  far  as  to  advise  the 
Emperor  to  defy  the  Old  Buddha  herself,  and  to  plot 
against  her  sacred  person.  His  idea  was  simply  to  gain 
kudos  and  to  strengthen  his  own  position  and  that  of  his 
party.  The  Emperor  accepted  his  recommendation  of 
K'ang,  and  summoned  the  latter  to  audience  on  the  28th 
of  the  4th  Moon  (14th  June  1898). 

Weng  told  his  friend  and  colleague,  Liao  Shou-heng, 
that  he  would  await  the  result  of  this  audience  before 
coming  to  a  decision  as  to  his  own  future  movements.  If 
K'ang  Yu-wei  made  a  good  impression,  he  would  remain 
in  office;  if  not,  he  would  resign.  He  added  that  if  the 
usual  gifts  of  the  Dragon  Festival  were  sent  him  by  the 
Emperor,  he  would  feel  that  there  was  no  immediate 
danger  in  his  position.  All  he  asked  was  that  he  might 
escape  the  open  hostility  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  such  as 


THE  REFORM  MOVEMENT  OF  1898    125 

had  fallen  upon  the  Cantonese  Vice-President,  Chang  Yin- 
huan,  whose  dismissal  was  expected  at  any  moment.  As 
it  happened,  however,  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his  friends  per- 
suaded the  Emperor  to  insist  on  retaining  Chang  Yin- 
huan  in  office,  and  for  the  next  hundred  days  he  became 
Kuang-Hsii's  right-hand  man,  playing  his  part,  fore- 
doomed, while  in  the  "deep  seclusion  of  her  Palace"  the 
Old  Buddha  bided  her  time. 

On  the  20th  of  the  4th  Moon,  Weng  T'ung-ho  applied 
for  a  week's  sick  leave,  a  face-saving  device  which  showed 
that  he  was  aware  of  the  impending  storm.  On  the  23rd 
His  Majesty  issued  the  first  of  his  Reform  Decrees.  He 
had  duly  conferred  on  the  subject  with  the  Empress  at  the 
Summer  Palace,  and  had  accorded  a  special  audience  to 
Jung  Lu.  Tzu  Hsi  assured  him  that  she  would  raise  no 
obstacles  to  his  proposed  policy,  provided  that  the  ancient 
privileges  of  the  Manchus  were  not  infringed ;  at  the  same 
time,  she  insisted  on  his  getting  rid  of  Weng  T'ung-ho 
without  delay,  as  he  was  instigating  an  anti-Manchu  move- 
ment which,  if  it  gained  headway,  might  involve  the 
Dynasty  in  ruin.  Jung  Lu  strongly  recommended  to  His 
Majesty  a  notable  progressive,  the  son  of  Ch'en  Pao-chen, 
Governor  of  Hupei.  The  fact  is  of  interest  because  of  the 
idea  prevalent  among  Europeans,  that  Jung  Lu  was  ever 
opposed  to  reform.  Subsequent  events  compelled  him  to 
turn  against  the  very  man  whom  he  now  recommended,  but 
this  was  not  so  much  on  account  of  a  change  in  his  views, 
as  because  the  policy  of  the  reformers  had  developed  on 
unexpected  and  dangerous  lines. 

On  the  day  following  the  issue  of  the  first  Reform 
Decree  was  proclaimed  the  result  of-  what  the  Emperor 
fully  intended  to  be  the  last  examination  under  the  old 
classical-essay  system.  The  candidate  originally  selected 
for  the  high  honour  of  Optimus  was  again  a  Kiangsu 
man,  but  the  Empress  herself  altered  the  list  and  conferred 
the  coveted  distinction  upon  a  native  of  Kueichou  pro- 
vince, to  mark  her  displeasure  against  the  province  which 
had  given  birth  to  Weng  T'ung-ho.  At  the  same  time  a 
Decree  advised   members  of  the   Imperial   Clan   to  seek 


126    CHINA   UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

education  in  Europe;  even  Princes  of  the  Blood  were  to  be 
encouraged  to  go  abroad  and  to  investigate  political  con- 
ditions. Among  the  Manchus,  the  sensation  created  by 
these  Decrees  was  very  great;  they  felt  that,  for  the  first 
time  in  history,  fundamental  things  were  being  challenged, 
the  ancient  bulwarks  of  the  Dynastic  privileges  in  danger. 
Had  not  Mencius  himself  said :  "  We  have  heard  of 
Chinese  ideas  being  employed  to  convert  barbarians,  but 
have  never  heard  of  China  being  converted  by  barbarians." 
On  the  morning  after  the  issue  of  the  second  Decree, 
Weng  T'ung-ho,  on  return  from  his  week's  leave,  pro- 
ceeded as  usual  at  4  a.m.  to  the  Summer  Palace  to  attend 
the  audience  of  the  Grand  Council.  He  was  met  by  one 
of  the  Secretaries  to  the  Council  who,  handing  him  an 
Imperial  Decree,  informed  him  of  his  dismissal.  It  was 
Tzu  Hsi's  first  open  move  on  behalf  of  the  Manchu  party, 
and  a  clear  admission  of  tutelage  on  the  part  of  the 
Emperor. 

Another  Decree  proved  even  more  plainly  that  the 
Emperor  was  completely  under  Tzu  Hsi's  orders;  it 
directed  that  all  officials  above  the  second  rank  should 
thenceforward  return  thanks  to  Her  Majesty  in  person 
upon  receiving  appointments.  This  was  a  new  departure, 
for,  since  the  war  with  Japan,  she  had  ceased  to  hold  daily 
audiences,  receiving  officials  only^on  her  birthday  and 
other  State  occasions.  Another  Decree  of  the  same  day 
transferred  Jung  Lu  to  Tientsin  as  Viceroy  of  Chihli.  He 
and  K'ang  Yu-wei  were  received  in  audience  next  morn- 
ing. To  Jung  Lu  the  Emperor  gave  orders  to  reorganise 
the  forces  in  Chihli,  adding  that  he  looked  to  him  for  loyal 
co-operation  in  the  reform  movement.  The  audience  to 
K*ang  Yu-wei,  first  of  many  similar  interviews  (but  the 
only  one  recorded  in  the  official  Gazette),  lasted  several 
hours.  K'ang  deeply  disliked  and  feared  Tzu  Hsi,  and 
from  the  outset  he  did  his  best  to  prejudice  the  Emperor 
against  her.  He  reiterated  his  opinion  that  her  sympathy 
for  reform  was  merely  a  feint,  and  he  roundly  denounced 
her  wanton  extravagance  and  dissipated  life  at  the  Summer 
Palace.    He  described  the  unpopularity  of  the  Manchu  rule 


THE  REFORM  MOVEMENT  OF  1898    127 

in  the  south  as  chiefly  due  to  the  people's  contempt  for 
Her  Majesty,  and  compared  her  private  life  to  that  of  the 
notorious  Empress  Wu  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty.  He  advised 
Kuang-Hsii  to  relegate  her  permanently  to  retirement,  she 
being  the  chief  obstacle  to  reform.  The  Emperor  fell 
speedily  and  completely  under  K'ang's  influence,  and 
none  of  his  subsequent  Edicts  was  issued  without  K*ang's 
assistance.  In  the  light  of  later  knowledge,  and  of  almost 
universal  Chinese  opinion  on  this  subject,  it  is  difficult  to 
acquit  K'ang  Yu-wei  of  personal  and  interested  motives, 
of  a  desire  to  wield  power  in  the  State  as  the  result  of  his 
influence  over  the  Emperor,  whose  emotional  pliability  he 
made  to  serve  his  own  ends.  Looked  at  in  this  light,  his 
denunciations  of  the  Empress  Dowager  and  Jung  Lu  were 
evidently  less  the  outcome  of  patriotic  indignation  than  of 
his  recognition  of  the  fact  that,  so  long  as  Tzu  Hsi 
remained  in  power,  his  ambitions  could  never  be  achieved, 
nor  his  own  position  secured. 


XI 

THE   HUNDRED   DAYS   OF   REFORM 

Immediately  following  upon  K'ang  Yu-wei's  first 
audience,  Reform  Decrees  followed  one  another  in  rapid 
succession.  The  old  examination  system  which  had  been 
in  force,  with  one  brief  intermission  (in  K'ang-Hsi's  reign), 
since  the  days  of  the  Sung  Dynasty,  was  definitely 
abolished.  For  the  future,  said  the  Emperor,  papers  on 
practical  subjects  were  to  be  set  at  the  public  examinations, 
and  while  the  classics  were  to  remain  as  a  basis  for  the 
literary  curriculum,  candidates  for  the  public  service  would 
be  expected  to  display  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  other 
countries  and  of  contemporary  politics.  It  was  at  this 
juncture  that  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Rites,  HsU 
Ying-k'uei  (who,  though  a  Cantonese,  was  a  stalwart  Con- 
servative), was  denounced  by  the  Censors  Sung  Po-lu  and 
Yang  Shen-hsiu  for  obstructing  the  decreed  reforms. 
They  begged  the  Emperor  to  "display  his  divine  wrath  by 
immediately  reducing  Hsii  to  the  rank  of  a  fourth  class 
official  as  a  warning  to  other  offenders."  "We  have 
noted,"  they  said,  "Your  Majesty's  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
reform  and  Your  gracious  desire  to  promote  improved 
education  and  friendly  relations  with  foreign  Powers.  The 
Board  of  Rites  is  in  charge  of  all  the  colleges  in  the  Empire 
and  the  Tsungli  Yamen  directs  our  policy.  Hsii  Ying- 
k'uei,  President  of  the  Board  of  Rites  and  a  Minister  of 
the  Tsungli  Yamen,  is  a  man  of  second-rate  ability, 
arrogant,  ignorant,  and  hopelessly  obstinate.  Your 
Majesty,  being  deeply  conscious  of  the  vital  need  for  per- 
manent and  radical  reform,  and  anxious  to  encourage  men 
of  talent,  has  instituted  a  special  examination  in  political 
economy,  but  Hsii  Ying-ku'ei  has  dared  to  cast  disparage- 
ment on  Your  Majesty's  orders  and  has  openly  stated  that 

128 


THE  HUNDRED  DAYS  OF  REFORM        125 

such  an  examination  is  a  useless  innovation.  It  is  his 
intention  to  allow  as  few  candidates  as  possible  to  pass 
this  examination  so  as  to  render  it  unpopular.  He  is 
similarly  opposing  everyone  of  Your  Majesty's  proposed 
reforms.  He  vilifies  western  learning  in  conversation  with 
his  proteges,  and  is  the  sworn  foe  of  all  progressive 
scholars.  Your  Majesty's  chief  complaint  is  that  such 
scholars  are  too  few  in  number,  but  Hsii  Ying-ku'ei's  chief 
hope  is  to  suppress  the  few  there  are. 

"In  the  Tsungli  Yamen  a  single  phrase  wrongly  ex- 
pressed may  well  precipitate  a  war;  so  important  are  the 
duties  there  to  be  performed  that  no  one  unacquainted  with 
foreign  affairs,  and  the  ways  of  those  who  seek  to  injure 
us,  can  possibly  render  effective  service  to  the  State.  Hsii 
Ying-ku'ei  is  far  from  being  a  distinguished  Chinese 
scholar;  nevertheless  he  despises  European  learning.  His 
boundless  conceit  is  a  menace  to  our  country's  interests 
and  dignity.  It  seems  to  us  a  monstrous  thing  that  a  man 
of  this  stamp  should  be  employed  at  the  Tsungli  Yamen, 
and  that  his  removal  from  the  Board  would  be  of  incalcul- 
able benefit.  He  deserves  to  be  removed  from  office  for 
blocking  reform  and  impeding  the  execution  of  Your 
Majesty's  plans,  if  only  as  a  warning  to  reactionary 
officials,  who  are  all  a  danger  tp  their  country.  If  Your 
Majesty  will  reduce  him  to  the  fourth  official  rank  we  shall 
escape  the  ridicule  of  foreign  nations,  and  the  cause  of 
reform  will  be  greatly  advanced." 

On  receipt  of  the  above  Memorial,  Kuang-HsU  com- 
manded Hsii  Ying-ku'ei  to  submit  a  personal  explanation 
of  his  conduct.  Hsii  complied  in  a  Memorial  which  fiercely 
denounced  K'ang  Yu-wei.  The  Emperor  was  greatly 
incensed  by  this  outspoken  document,  but  could  not  as  yet 
summon  up  courage  to  offend  the  Empress  Dowager  by 
dismissing  from  office  one  who  enjoyed  her  favour  and 
protection.  Tzu  Hsi  perused  both  Memorials  and  was 
secretly  impressed  by  Hsii's  warning  in  regard  to  the 
revolutionary  tendencies  of  the  reformers.  From  that  day, 
though  openly  unopposed  to  reform,  she  became  suspicious 
of  K'ang's  influence  over  the  Emperor,  but  preferred  to 


130    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

bide  her  time,  never  doubting  that,  at  a  word  from  her, 
Kuang-Hsii  would  dismiss  him.  She  gave  a  special 
audience  to  Wang  Wen-shao,  who  had  come  from  Tientsin 
after  handing  over  the  Chihli  Viceroyalty  to  Jung  Lu. 
Wang  stoutly  supported  Hsii  Ying-ku'ei's  attitude  of 
caution  in  regard  to  several  of  the  Emperor's  proposed 
measures.  Following  upon  this  audience,  the  Emperor 
issued  a  Decree  permitting  Hsii  to  retain  his  posts,  but 
warning  him  to  show  more  energy  in  future  both  at  the 
Board  of  Rites  and  at  the  Tsungli  Yamen.  Hsii  regarded 
this  as  a  decided  triumph,  due  to  Tzu  Hsi's  protection, 
and  became  more  than  ever  opposed  to  innovations;  this 
attitude  was  strengthened  when  Huai  Ta  Pu,  his  Manchu 
colleague  at  the  Board  of  Rites  and  a  first  cousin  of  Tzu 
Hsi,  came  out  as  a  strong  supporter  of  the  ultra- 
Conservatives. 
i  The  Emperor's  next  Decree  provided  for  the  reorganisa- 
tion of  the  effete  Manchu  troops  of  the  Metropolitan  Pro- 
vince and  for  the  founding  of  colleges  and  high  schools  in 
the  provinces,  to  correspond  to  the  Peking  University. 

A  reactionary  Memorial  by  the  Censor  Wen  T'i  ^ 
charged  his  colleagues  Sung  Po-lu  and  Yang  Shen-hsiu 
with  making  their  personal  jealousy  of  Hsii  Ying-ku'ei 
an  excuse  for  deluding  the  Emperor  and  setting  him  at 
variance  with  the  Empress  Dowager.  This  greatly  angered 
His  Majesty,  who  promptly  had  the  offender  dismissed 
from  the  Censorate  for  stirring  up  that  very  party  strife 
which  his  Memorial  professed  to  denounce.  Wen  T'i, 
thus  rebuked,  induced  Huai  Ta  Pu  to  go  out  to  the 
Summer  Palace  and  endeavour  to  enlist  the  Old  Buddha's 
sympathy  in  his  behalf.  She,  however,  declined  to  move 
in  the  matter,  having  at  the  moment  no  specific  ground  of 
complaint  against  the  Emperor  and  preferring  to  give  the 
Progressives  all  the  rope  they  wanted ;  but  she  caused  Yii 
Lu,  one  of  her  old  proteges,  to  be  appointed  to  the  Grand 
Council,  and  this  official  kept  her  regularly  informed  of 

I  In  1901,  this  official  begged  Tzu  Hsi,  just  before  her  departure  from 
K'ai-Feng  fu  for  Peking,  not  to  return  thither,  on  the  ground  that  her 
Palace  had  been  polluted  by  the  presence  of  the  foreign  barbarians. 


THE   HUNDRED   DAYS  OF  REFORM         131 

everything  that  occurred  in  Peking.  He  belonged  to  the 
Kang  Yi  faction  of  extremists  and  disapproved  of  reform 
with  all  the  dogged  stupidity  of  his  class.  Later,  in  1900, 
as  Viceroy  of  Chihli,  he  rendered  no  little  assistance  to 
Kang  Yi's  schemes  for  massacring  all  foreigners,  and  was 
a  noted  leader  of  the  Boxer  movement.  With  three 
reactionaries  on  the  Council  of  the  stamp  of  Kang  Yi, 
Wang  Wen-shao  and  YU  Lu,  there  was  small  chance  of 
any  genuine  opportunity  or  honest  purpose  of  reform, 
whatever  the  Emperor  might  choose  to  decree,  but  before 
the  Conservatives  could  assume  the  offensive,  they  had  to 
win  over  Tzu  Hsi  definitely  and  openly  to  their  side,  and 
with  her  Jung  Lu. 

At  about  this  time  Kuang-Hsii  reprimanded  another 
Censor  for  a  trifling  error  in  caligraphy,  the  incorrect  writ- 
ing of  a  character.^  Nevertheless,  a  week  later,  a  Decree 
was  issued,  clearly  showing  the  influence  of  K'ang  Yu- 
wei  in  which  it  was  ordered  that  caligraphy  should  no 
longer  form  a  special  subject  at  the  public  examinations. 
"In  certain  branches  of  the  public  service  neat  hand- 
writing was  no  doubt  of  great  value,  but  it  would  in  future 
be  made  the  subject  of  special  examinations  for  the 
appointment  of  copyists.'* 

On  the  8th  day  of  the  6th  Moon,  a  Decree  ordered 
arrangements  to  be  made  for  the  publication  of  official 
Gazettes  all  over  the  Empire,  and  K'ang  Yu-wei  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  Head  Oflice  at  Shanghai.  These 
Gazettes  were  to  be  official  newspapers,  and  their  object 
was  the  extension  of  general  knowledge.  They  were  to 
receive  Government  subsidies;  copies  were  to  be  regularly 
submitted  for  the  Emperor's  perusal ;  opinions  were  to  be 
freely  expressed,  and  all  abuses  fearlessly  exposed.  K'ang 
Yu-wei  was  directed  to  draw  up  Press  regulations  in  this 
sense. 

On  the  23rd  of  the  6th  Moon,  another  vigorous  Decre^,, 
exhorted  the  official  class  to  turn  its  attention  seriously  to 

*  The  Emperor  prided  himseli  on  being  a  great  stickler  in  such 
matters,  and  many  of  the  younger  officials  feared  him  on  account  of 
his  quick  temper  and  martinet  manner  in  dealing  with  them. 


132    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

reforms.  Herein  the  Emperor  declared  that  the  procras- 
tination hitherto  displayed  was  most  disheartening. 
"Stagnation,"  said  the  Edict,  "is  the  sign  of  grave  internal 
sickness;  hopeless  abuses  are  bred  from  this  palsied  indif- 
ference. An  earnest  reformer  like  Ch'en  Pao-chen,  the 
Governor  of  Hupei,  becomes  a  target  for  the  violent  abuse 
of  officials  and  gentry.  Henceforward  I  would  have  you 
all  sympathise  with  my  anxiety  and  work  earnestly  to- 
gether, so  that  we  may  profit  by  our  past  reverses  and 
provide  for  a  brighter  future." 

Another  Decree  ordered  the  institution  of  naval  colleges 
as  a  step  preliminary  to  the  reconstruction  of  China's  fleet. 
Railway  and  mining  bureaus  were  established  in  Peking, 
and  the  Cantonese  reformer,  Liang  Ch'i-ch'ao,  was  given 
charge  of  a  Translation  Department,  to  publish  standard 
foreign  works  on  political  economy  and  natural  science,  a 
grant  of  one  thousand  taels  per  mensem  being  allowed  to 
cover  his  expenses. 

But  an  innovation  more  startling  than  all  these,  broke 
upon  the  upholders  of  the  old  regime  in  a  Decree  issued 
in  response  to  a  Memorial  by  Jung  Lu,  who  was  all  in 
favour  of  reform  in  military  matters.  It  was  therein 
announced  that  the  Emperor  would  escort  the  Empress 
Dowager  by  train  to  Tientsin  on  the  5th  day  of  the  9th 
Moon,  and  there  hold  a  review  of  the  troops.  The  Con- 
servatives were  aghast  at  the  idea  of  their  Majesties  travel- 
ling by  train,  but  Tzu  Hsi,  who  had  always  enjoyed  riding 
on  the  miniature  railway  in  the  Winter  Palace,  was  de- 
lighted at  the  prospect  of  so  novel  an  excursion.  But  if 
Manchu  propriety  was  shocked  at  this  proposal,  a  still 
heavier  blow  was  dealt  it  by  the  next  Decree,  which 
abolished  a  number  of  obsolete  and  useless  Government 
offices  and  sinecures,  fat  jobs  which,  for  generations,  had 
maintained  thousands  of  idlers  in  the  enjoyment  of 
liicrative  squeezes,  a  burden  on  the  State. 

This  Decree  was  loudly  denounced  as  contrary  to  the 
traditions  of  the  Manchu  Dynasty,  and  from  all  sides  came 
urgent  appeals  to  the  Old  Buddha  to  protect  the  privileges 
of  the  ruling  class,   and  to  order   its  cancellation.     Yet 


THE  HUNDRED  DAYS  OF  REFORM         133 

another  bolt  fell  two  days  later,  when  all  the  high  officials 
of  the  Board  of  Rites,  including  Hsii  Ying-ku*ei  and  the 
Empress  Dowager's  kinsman,    Huai  Ta  Pu,   were  sum- 
marily cashiered  for  having  suppressed  a  Memorial  by  the 
Secretary,   Wang  Chao.     In  this  document  it  was  sug- 
gested that  the  Emperor,  in  company  with  the  Empress 
Dowager,  should  travel  abroad,  beginning  with  Japan  and 
concluding  with  a  tour  in  Europe.     Realising  that  **the 
craft  of  Demetrius  was  in  danger,"   nearly  all  the  Con- 
servatives holding  high  office  proceeded  in  a  body  to  the 
Summer  Palace  and  told  the  Empress  Dowager  that  the 
only  hope  of  saving  the  country  lay  in  her  resumption  of 
the  supreme  power.    The  Old  Buddha  bade  them  wait — the 
sands  were  running  out,  but  she  was  not  yet  ready  to  move. 
K'ang  Yu-wei,  realising  that  there  was  danger  ahead, 
took  advantage  of  what  he  mistook  for  indecision  on  the 
part  of  Tzu  Hsi  to  induce  the  Emperor  to  rebel  against  her 
authority.     Once  more  he  assured   Kuang-Hsu  that  her 
professed  sympathy  for  reform  was  all  a  sham,  and  that, 
on  the  contrary,    it  was  she  herself  who  was   the   chief 
obstacle  to  China's  awakening,  her  influence  being  really 
the  prime  factor  in  the  country's  corruption  and  lethargy. 
Why  should  she  be  permitted  to  waste  millions  of  Govern- 
ment funds  yearly  in  the  upkeep  of  her  lavish  establish- 
ment at  the  Summer  Palace?     He  advised  the  Emperor 
by  a  coup  de  main  to  surround  her  residence,  seize  her 
person,  and  confine  her  for  the  rest  of  her  days  on  a  certain 
small  island  in  the  Winter  Palace  lake.     Thereafter  he 
should  issue  a  Decree  recounting  her  many  misdeeds  and 
proclaiming  his  intention  never  again  to  permit  her  to  have 
any  part  in  the  Goverment.     This  conversation  was  held 
in  a  private  apartment  of  the  Palace,  but  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  it  was  reported  to  Tzu  Hsi  by  one 
of  the  eunuch  spies  employed  by  Li  Lien-ying  for  that 
purpose.     The  Emperor  foolishly  allowed  himself  to  be 
led  into  approval  of  this  plot,   but  decided  to  await  the 
Court's  proposed  trip  to  Tientsin  before  putting  it  into 
execution.    He  knew  that  to  ensure  success  for  the  scheme 
he  must  be  able  to  command  the  services  of  the  troops, 


134    CHINA   UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

and  he  realised  that  so  long  as  Jung  Lu  was  in  command 
of  the  foreign-drilled  forces  of  Chihli,  he  would  never  con- 
sent to  their  lifting  a  finger  against  his  life-long  bene- 
factress. Herein,  in  the  Emperor's  opinion,  lay  the  main 
obstacle  that  confronted  him.  The  real  danger,  that  lay  in 
Tsu  Hsi's  enormous  personal  influence  and  fertility  of 
resource  he  appears  to  have  under-rated,  mistaking  her 
inaction  for  indecision. 

For  the  moment  he  continued  to  issue  new  Edicts,  one 
ordering  the  making  of  macadamised  roads  in  Peking, 
another  the  enrolment  of  militia  for  purposes  of  national 
defence,  while  a  third  authorised  Manchus  to  leave  Peking, 
should  they  so  wish,  to  earn  their  living  in  the  provinces. 
On  the  27th  of  the  7th  Moon,  appeared  the  last  of  his 
important  Reform  Decrees — a  document  pathetic  in  the 
light  of  subsequent  events. 

"  In  promoting  reforms,  we  have  adopted  certain  European 
methods,  because,  while  China  and  Europe  are  both  alike  in 
holding  that  the  first  object  of  good  government  should  be  the 
welfare  of  the  people,  Europe  has  travelled  further  on  this  road 
than  we  have,  so  that,  by  the  introduction  of  European  methods, 
we  simply  make  good  China's  deficiencies.  But  our  Statesmen 
and  scholars  are  so  ignorant  of  what  lies  beyond  our  borders 
that  they  look  upon  Europe  as  possessing  no  civilisation.  They 
are  all  unaware  of  those  numerous  branches  of  western  know- 
ledge whose  object  it  is  to  enlighten  the  minds  and  increase  the 
material  prosperity  of  the  people.  Physical  well-being  and 
increased  longevity  of  the  race  are  thereby  secured  for  the 
masses. 

"Is  it  possible  that  I,  the  Emperor,  am  to  be  regarded  as  a 
mere  follower  after  new  and  strange  ideas  because  of  my  thirst 
for  reform?  My  love  for  the  people,  my  children,  springs  from 
the  feeling  that  God  has  confided  them  to  me  and  that  to  my 
care  they  have  been  given  in  trust  by  my  illustrious  Ancestors. 
I  shall  never  feel  that  my  duty  as  Sovereign  is  fulfilled  until  I 
have  raised  them  all  to  a  condition  of  peaceful  prosperity. 
Moreover,  do  not  the  foreign  Powers  surround  our  Empire, 
committing  frequent  acts  of  aggression?  Unless  we  learn  and 
adopt  the  sources  of  their  strength,  our  plight  cannot  be 
remedied.  The  cause  of  my  anxiety  is  not  fully  appreciated 
by  my  people,  because  the  reactionary  element  deliberately 
misrepresents  my  objects,  spreading  the  while  baseless  rumours 
so  as  to  disturb  the  minds  of  men.     When  I  reflect  how  deep  is 


THE  HUNDRED   DAYS  OF  REFORM         135 

the  ignorance  of  the  masses  of  the  dwellers  in  the  innermost 
parts  of  the  Empire  on  the  subject  of  my  proposed  reforms,  my 
heart  is  filled  with  care  and  grief.  Therefore  do  I  hereby  now 
proclaim  my  intentions,  so  that  the  whole  Empire  may  know 
and  believe  that  their  Sovereign  is  to  be  trusted  and  that  the 
people  may  co-operate  with  me  in  working  for  reform  and  the 
strengthening  of  our  country.  This  is  my  earnest  hope.  I 
command  that  the  whole  of  my  Reform  Decrees  be  printed  on 
Yellow  paper  and  distributed  for  the  information  of  all  men. 
The  District  Magistrates  are  henceforward  privileged  to  submit 
Memorials  to  me  through  the  Provincial  Viceroys,  so  that  I  may 
learn  the  real  needs  of  the  people.  Let  this  Decree  be  exhibited 
in  the  front  hall  of  every  public  office  in  the  Empire  so  that  all 
men  may  see  it." 

But  the  sands  had  run  out.  Tzu  Hsi  now  emerged  from 
"the  profound  seclusion  of  her  Palace"  and  Kuang-Hsu*s 
little  hour  was  over. 


h 


XII 

THE    COUP    D'ETAT    OF     1898 

In  August  1898 — at  the  end  of  the  7th  Moon — the  posi- 
tion of  affairs  in  the  Palace  (known  only  to  a  few)  was 
that  the  Empress  Dowager  had  been  won  over  to  the  re- 
actionary party ;  she  was  postponing  a  decisive  step,  how- 
ever, until  she  and  the  Emperor  made  their  proposed  visit 
to  Tientsin  in  the  9th  Moon.  It  was  her  intention  there 
to  confer  with  Jung  Lu  before  resuming  the  Regency, 
because  of  the  unmistakable  hostility  towards  her  then 
prevailing  in  the  southern  provinces,  which  she  wished  to 
allay,  as  far  as  possible,  by  avoiding  any  overt  measures  of 
usurpation  until  her  preparations  were  made.  On  the  ist 
of  the  8th  Moon,  the  Emperor,  who  was  then  in  residence 
at  the  Summer  Palace,  received  in  audience  Yiian  Shih- 
k'ai,  the  Judicial  Commissioner  of  Chihli,  and  discussed 
with  him  at  great  length  the  political  needs  of  the  Empire. 
Yiian  (then  in  his  fortieth  year)  had  owed  his  rapid  ad- 
vancement to  the  protection  of  the  great  Viceroy  Li  Hung- 
chang;  nevertheless,  among  his  rivals  and  enemies  there 
were  many  who  attributed  the  disastrous  war  with  Japan 
in  1894  to  his  arbitrary  conduct  of  affairs  as  Imperial 
Resident  in  Corea.  There  is  no  doubt  that  his  reports  and 
advice  on  the  situation  at  Seoul  precipitated,  if  they  did 
not  cause,  the  crisis,  leading  the  Chinese  Government  to 
despatch  troops  into  the  country  in  the  face  of  Japan's 
desire  and  readiness  for  war,  and  thus  to  the  extinction 
of  China's  sovereignty  in  the  Hermit  Kingdom ;  but  the 
fact  had  not  impaired  Yiian's  personal  prestige  or  his 
influence  at  Court.  As  a  result  of  this  audience  the 
Emperor  was  completely  won  over  by  Yiian's  professed 
interest  in  the  cause  of  reform,  and  was  convinced  that  in 
him  he  had  secured  a  powerful  supporter.     His  Majesty 

136 


THE  COUP  D'ETAT  OF  1898  137 

had  already  realised  that  he  must  now  reckon  with  the  Old 
Buddha's  uncompromising  opposition;  quite  recently  she 
had  severely  rebuked  him  for  even  noticing  K'ang  Yu- 
wei's  suggestion  that  he  should  act  more  on  his  own 
authority.  Jung  Lu,  he  knew,  would  always  loyally  sup- 
port his  Imperial  mistress ;  and  there  was  not  one 
prominent  Manchu  in  the  Empire,  and,  as  far  as  Peking 
was  concerned,  hardly  a  Chinese,  who  would  dare  to  oppose 
the  Old  Buddha,  if  once  she  declared  herself  actively  on 
the  side  of  reaction.  The  only  two  high  officials  in  Peking 
on  whom  he  could  confidently  reckon  for  sympathy  and 
support  were  the  Cantonese  Chang  Yin-huan,  and  Li 
Tuan-fen,  a  native  of  Kueichou.  But  if  he  could  obtain 
control  of  the  Northern  foreign-drilled  army,  the  reaction-^ 
ary  party  might  yet  be  overthrown.  To  secure  this  end  it 
was  essential  that  Jung  Lu,  the  Governor-General  of  Chihli 
and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  foreign-drilled  forces, 
should  be  put  out  of  the  way,  and  this  before  the  Empress 
could  be  warned  of  the  plot.  The  Emperor  therefore 
proposed  to  have  Jung  Lu  put  to  death  in  his  Yamen  at 
Tientsin,  and  then  swiftly  to  bring  a  force  of  10,000  of  his 
disciplined  troops  to  the  capital,  who  would  confine  the 
Empress  Dowager  to  the  Summer  Palace.  At  the  same 
time  the  most  prominent  reactionaries  in  Peking,  i.  e, 
Kang  Yi,  Yu  Lu,  Huai  Ta  Pu  and  Hsii  Ying-ku'ei  were 
to  be  seized  at  their  residence  and  hurried  off  to  the  prison 
of  the  Board  of  Punishments.  This  was  the  scheme  sug- 
gested by  K'ang  Yu-wei,  the  Censor  Yang  Shen-hsiu, 
and  the  secretaries  of  the  Grand  Council,  T'an  Ssu-t'ung, 
Lin-Hsii,  Yang  Jui,  and  Liu  Kuang-ti.  At  this  first 
audience  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  was  informed  of  the  Emperor's 
determination  to  maintain  and  enforce  his  reform  policy, 
and  was  asked  whether  he  would  be  loyal  to  his  sovereign 
if  placed  in  command  of  a  large  force  of  troops.  "Your 
servant  will  endeavour  to  recompense  the  Imperial  favour," 
he  replied,  "even  though  his  merit  be  only  as  a  drop  of 
water  in  the  ocean  or  a  grain  of  sand  in  the  desert ;  he  will 
faithfully  perform  the  service  of  a  dog  or  a  horse  while 
there  remains  breath  in  his  body." 


138    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Completely  reassured  by  Yuan's  words  and  earnest 
manner  and  his  apparently  genuine  zeal  for  reform,  the 
Emperor  straightway  issued  the  following  Decree:  — 

"At  the  present  time  army  reform  is  of  all  things  most 
essential,  and  the  judicial  commissioner  of  Chihli,  Yuan  Shih- 
k'ai,  is  an  energetic  administrator  and  thoroughly  earnest  in 
the  matter  of  training  our  forces.  We  therefore  accord  him  the 
rank  of  Expectant  Vice-President  of  a  Board  and  place  him  in 
special  charge  of  the  business  of  army  reform.  He  is  to  memor- 
ialise from  time  to  time  regarding  any  measures  which  he  may 
desire  to  introduce.  Under  the  present  conditions  of  our  Empire 
it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  our  defences  be  strengthened, 
and  it  behoves  Yuan  Shih-k'ai  therefore  to  display  all  possible 
energy  and  zeal  in  the  training  of  our  troops,  so  that  an  efficient 
army  may  be  organised,  and  the  Throne's  determination  to 
secure  homogeneous  forces  be  loyally  supported." 

At  this  first  audience  there  had  been  no  mention  of 
the  proposed  removal  of  Jung  Lu.  Scarcely  had  Yiian  left 
the  Jen  Shou  (Benevolent  Old  Age)  Palace  Hall,  than  the 
Empress  Dowager  summoned  him  to  her  own  apartments, 
and  closely  questioned  him  as  to  what  the  Emperor  had 
said.  "By  all  means  let  the  army  be  reformed,"  said  the 
Old  Buddha;  "the  Decree  is  sensible  enough,  but  His 
Majesty  is  in  too  great  a  hurry,  and  I  suspect  him  of 
cherishing  some  deep  design.  You  will  await  a  further 
audience  with  him,  and  then  receive  my  instructions." 

The  Empress  then  sent  for  the  Emperor,  and  informed 
him  that  he  must  have  K'ang  Yu-wei  placed  under  arrest 
for  speaking  disrespectfully  of  her  private  life  and  morals. 
She  refrained  from  informing  him  that  she  knew  of  his 
design  to  deprive  her  of  power,  and  she  was  so  far  unaware 
of  the  extent  of  the  plot  against  herself  and  Jung  Lu.  She 
reproached  him,  however,  in  general  terms  for  his  evident 
and  increasing  lack  of  filial  duty  towards  herself.  The 
Emperor  meekly  promised  to  comply  with  her  wishes  as  to 
K'ang  Yu-wei 's  arrest,  but  late  that  same  evening,  while 
the  Empress  Dowager  was  entertaining  herself  at  a  water 
picnic  on  the  K'un  Ming  Lake,  he  despatched  his  con- 
fidential eunuch.  Sung  Yu-lien,  into  Peking  with  the 
following  Decree,  drafted  in  His  Majesty's  own  unformed 
and  childish  handwriting:  — 


THE  COUP  D'ETAT  OF  1898  139 

"  On  a  previous  occasion  we  commanded  the  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Works,  K'ang  Yu-wei,  to  take  charge  of  the  Govern- 
ment Gazette  Bureau  at  Shanghai.  We  learn  with  astonish- 
ment that  he  has  not  yet  left  Peking-.  We  are  well  aware  of 
the  crisis  through  which  the  Empire  is  passing,  and  have  been 
anxious  on  this  account  to  obtain  the  services  of  men  well  versed 
in  political  economy,  with  whom  to  discuss  improved  methods 
of  government.  We  granted  one  audience  to  K'ang  Yu-wei 
{sic  :  as  a  matter  of  fact  K'ang  was  received  by  His  Majesty  on 
several  occasions)  because  of  his  special  knowledge,  and  we 
appointed  him  to  take  charge  of  the  Government  Gazette  Bureau 
for  the  reason  that  newspapers  are  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  in  national  education  and  progress.  His  duties  are 
evidently  of  no  light  responsibility,  and  funds  having  been 
specially  raised  for  this  enterprise,  we  command  him  now  to 
betake  himself  with  all  despatch  to  Shanghai;  he  shall  on  no 
account  procrastinate  any  longer." 

K*ang  Yu-wei  received  the  Decree,  realised  its  signifi- 
cance, and  left  Peking  by  the  first  train  next  morning, 
arriving  safely  at  Tongku,  where  he  boarded  a  coasting 
steamer  for  Shanghai.^  When  the  Empress  heard  of  his 
departure  she  was  furious,  and  telegraphed  to  Jung  Lu  to 
arrest  K'ang,  but  for  some  unexplained  reason  (the  instruc- 
tions reached  him  before  K'ang  could  have  arrived  at 
Tientsin)  Jung  Lu  took  no  steps  to  do  so.  At  this  time 
he  was  unaware  of  the  plot  against  his  life,  or  he  would 
hardly  have  shown  such  magnanimity.  K'ang  Yu-wei 
never  gave  him  any  credit  for  it  and  has  always  denounced 
Jung  Lu  as  second  only  in  villainy  to  the  Empress 
Dowager,  an  arch  enemy  of  reform  and  reformers.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  Jung  Lu  was  one  of  the  high  officials  who 
originally  recommended  K'ang  to  the  notice  of  the  Em- 
peror, and  till  the  day  of  his  death  he  always  alluded  to 
himself  jocularly  as  one  of  the  K'ang  T*ang,  or  K'ang 
Yu-wei  party,  to  the  great  amusement  of  the  Old  Buddha, 
who  would  jokingly  ask  him  what  news  he  had  of  his  friend 
K'ang,  the  traitor  and  rebel.  That  morning,  the  2nd  of 
the  Moon,  audience  was  given  to  the  reformer  Lin  Hsii  and 
to  Yiian  Shih-k'ai,  who  again  assured  the  Emperor  of  his 
complete  devotion.     His  Majesty  then   left  for  the  For- 

^  K'ang's  subsequent  escape  under  British  protection,  in  which  one  of 
the  writers  was  instrumental,  is  graphically  described  in  despatch  No.  401 
of  Blue  Book  No.  i  of  1899. 


140    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

bidden  City,  intending  to  carry  out  his  plans  against  the 
Empress  from  there  rather  than  from  the  Summer  Palace, 
where  nearly  every  eunuch  was  a  spy  in  her  service. 

It  is  evident  that,  so  far,  the  Emperor  by  no  means 
despaired  of  his  chances  of  success,  as  two  Decrees  were 
issued  next  morning,  one  ordering  the  teaching  of 
European  languages  in  the  public  schools,  and  the  other 
requiring  purer  administration  on  the  part  of  district 
magistrates. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th,  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  had  a  final 
audience,  before  leaving  for  Tientsin.  His  Majesty 
received  him  in  the  Palace  of  Heavenly  Purity  (Ch'ien 
Ch*ing  Kung)  of  the  Forbidden  City.  Every  precaution 
was  taken  to  prevent  the  conversation  being  overheard. 
Seated  for  the  last  time  on  the  great  lacquered  Dragon 
Throne,  so  soon  to  be  reoccupied  by  the  Empress  Dowager, 
in  the  gloomy  throne  room  which  the  morning  light  could 
scarcely  penetrate.  His  Majesty  told  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  the 
details  of  the  commission  with  which  he  had  decided  to 
entrust  him.  He  was  to  put  Jung  Lu  to  death  and  then, 
returning  immediately  to  the  capital  with  the  troops  under 
his  command,  to  seize  and  imprison  the  Empress  Dowager. 
The  Emperor  gave  him  a  small  arrow,  the  symbol  of  his 
authority  to  carry  out  the  Imperial  orders,  and  bade  him 
proceed  with  all  haste  to  Tientsin,  there  to  arrest  Jung  Lu 
in  his  Yamen  and  see  to  his  instant  decapitation.  Kuang 
Hsii  also  handed  him  a  Decree  whereby,  upon  completion 
of  his  mission,  he  was  appointed  Viceroy  of  Chihli  ad 
interim^  and  ordered  to  Peking  for  further  audience. 

Yiian  promised  faithful  obedience,  and,  without  speaking 
to  anyone,  left  Peking  by  the  first  train.  Meantime  the 
Old  Buddha  was  due  to  come  in  from  the  I-ho  Yiian  to  the 
Winter  Palace  that  morning  at  8  o'clock,  to  perform 
sacrifice  at  the  altar  to  the  God  of  Silkworms,  and  the 
Emperor  dutifully  repaired  to  the  Ying  Hsiu  Gate  of  the 
Western  Park,  where  the  Lake  Palace  is  situated,  to  receive 
Her  Majesty  as  she  entered  the  precincts. 

Yuan  reached  Tientsin  before  noon,  and  proceeded  at 
once  to  Jung  Lu's  Yamen.     He  asked  Jung  Lu  whether  he 


THE  COUP  D'ETAT  OF  1898  141 

regarded  him  as  a  faithful  blood  brother.  (The  two  men 
had  taken  the  oath  of  brotherhood  several  years  before.) 
"Of  course  I  do,"  replied  the  Viceroy.  "You  well  may,  for 
the  Emperor  has  sent  me  to  kill  you,  and  instead,  I  now 
betray  his  scheme,  because  of  my  loyalty  to  the  Empress 
Dowager  and  of  my  affection  for  you."  Jung  Lu,  appar- 
ently unaffected  by  the  message,  merely  expressed  surprise 
that  the  Old  Buddha  could  have  been  kept  in  ignorance 
of  all  these  things,  and  added  that  he  would  go  at  once  to 
the  capital  and  see  the  Empress  Dowager  that  same 
evening.  Yiian  handed  him  the  Emperor's  Decree,  and 
Jung  Lu,  travelling  by  special  train,  reached  Peking  soon 
after  5  p.m. 

He  went  directly  to  the  Lake  Palace,  and  entered  the 
Empress's  residence,  boldly  disregarding  the  strict 
etiquette  which  forbids  any  provincial  official  from  visiting 
the  capital  without  a  special  summons  by  Edict,  and  the 
still  stricter  rules  that  guard  the  entree  of  the  Palace. 
Unushered  he  entered  the  Empress's  presence,  and  ko- 
towing thrice,  exclaimed,  "Sanctuary,  Your  Majesty!" 
"What  sanctuary  do  you  require  in  the  Forbidden  pre- 
cincts, where  no  harm  can  come  to  you,  and  where  you 
have  no  right  to  be  ?  "  replied  the  Old  Buddha.  Jung  Lu 
proceeded  to  lay  before  her  all  the  details  of  the  plot. 
Grasping  the  situation  and  rising  immediately  to  its 
necessities  with  the  courage  and  masculine  intelligence 
that  enabled  her  to  overcome  all  obstacles,  she  directed 
him  to  .send  word  secretly  to  the  leaders  of  the  Conserva- 
tive party,  summoning  them  to  immediate  audience  in  the 
Palace  by  the  Lake.  (The  Emperor  was  still  in  the  For- 
bidden City.)  In  less  than  two  hours  the  whole  of  the 
Grand  Council,  several  of  the  Manchu  princes  and  nobles 
(Prince  Ch'ing,  with  his  usual  fine  "flair"  for  a  crisis, 
had  applied  for  sick  leave  and  was  therefore  absent)  and 
the  high  officials  of  the  Boards,  including  the  two  Ministers 
whom  the  Emperor  had  cashiered  (Hsii  Ying-ku'ei  and 
Huai  Ta  Pu)  were  assembled  in  the  presence  of  the 
Empress.  On  their  knees,  the  assembled  officials  besought 
her  to  resume  the  reins  of  government  and  to  save  their 


142    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

ancient  Empire  from  the  evils  of  a  barbarian  civilisation. 
It  was  speedily  arranged  that  the  guards  in  the  Forbidden 
City  should  be  replaced  by  men  from  Jung  Lu's  own  corps, 
and  that,  in  the  meantime,  he  should  return  to  his  post  in 
Tientsin  and  await  further  orders.  The  conference  broke 
up  at  about  midnight.  The  Emperor  was  due  to  enter  the 
Chung  Ho  Hall  of  the  Palace  at  5.30  the  next  morning  to 
peruse  the  litany  drawn  up  by  the  Board  of  Rites,  which  he 
was  to  recite  next  day  at  the  autumnal  sacrifice  to  the 
Tutelary  Deities.  After  leaving  that  hall,  he  was  seized  by 
the  guards  and  eunuchs,  conveyed  to  the  Palace  on  the 
small  island  in  the  middle  of  the  lake  (the  "Ocean 
Terrace ")  and  informed  that  the  Empress  Dowager 
would  visit  him  later.  The  following  Decree  was  there- 
upon issued  by  the  Empress  Dowager  in  the  Emperor's 
name:  — 

"The  nation  is  now  passing  through  a  crisis,  and  wise 
guidance  is  needed  in  all  branches  of  the  public  service.  We 
ourselves  have  laboured  diligently,  night  and  day,  to  perform 
Our  innumerable  duties,  but  in  spite  of  all  Our  anxious  energy 
and  care  We  are  in  constant  fear  lest  delay  should  be  the  un- 
doing of  the  country.  We  now  respectfully  recall  the  fact  that 
Her  Imperial  Majesty  the  Empress  Dowager  has  on  two 
occasions  since  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  H.  M.  T'ung-Chih, 
performed  the  functions  of  Regent,  and  that  in  her  adminis- 
trations of  the  Government  she  displayed  complete  and  admir- 
able qualities  of  perfection  which  enabled  her  successfully  to 
cope  with  every  difficulty  that  arose.  Recollecting  the  serious 
burden  of  the  responsibility  We  owe  to  Our  ancestors  and  to 
the  nation.  We  have  repeatedly  besought  Her  Majesty  to 
condescend  once  more  to  administer  the  Government.  Now 
she  has  graciously  honoured  Us  by  granting  Our  prayer,  a 
blessing  indeed  for  all  Our  subjects.  From  this  day  forth  Her 
Majesty  will  transact  the  business  of  Government  in  the  side 
hall  of  the  Palace,  and  on  the  day  after  to-morrow  We  ourselves 
at  the  head  of  Our  Princes  and  Ministers  shall  perform  obeisance 
before  Her  in  the  Hall  of  Diligent  Government.  The  Yam^ns 
concerned  shall  respectfully  make  the  arrangements  necessary 
for  this  ceremonial.     The  words  of  the  Emperor." 

Another  Decree  followed  close  upon  the  above,  cashier- 
ing the  Censor  Sung  Po-lu,  on  the  ground  of  his  generally 
evil  reputation  and  recommendation  of  bad  characters  (i.e. 


Photo,  Betines,  Peking. 

Circular  Throne  Hall  in  the  Grounds  of  the  Lake  Palace 

LOOTED    BY   ALLIED    TrOOPS    IN    I9OO. 


Photo,  Betines,  Peking. 

Pavilion  on  Lake  to  the  West  of  Forbidden  City. 


^^ 


•    c  «        c     t 


THE  COUP  D'ETAT  OF  1898  143 

the  reformer  Liang  Ch'i-ch'ao).  The  Empress  had  a 
special  grudge  against  this  Censor  because  he  had  ventured 
to  impeach  her  morals  in  a  recent  memorial,  but  as  he  had 
taken  no  part  in  the  conspiracy  against  her  person  she 
spared  his  life. 

Tzu    Hsi    in    due    course    proceeded    to    the    "Ocean 
Terrace,"  accompanied  only  by  Li   Lien-ying,  who  had 
been  ordered  to  replace  the  Emperor's  eunuchs  by  creatures 
of  his  own.     (Kuang  Hsii's  former  attendants  were  either 
put  to  death  or  banished  to  the  post  roads.)     A  Manchu 
who  heard  an  account  of  the  interview  from  Duke  Kuei 
Hsiang,  Tzu  Hsi's  younger  brother,  is  our  authority  for 
what  occurred  at  this  dramatic  meeting.     The   Empress 
Dowager    bluntly    informed    Kuang    Hsii    that    she    had 
decided  to  spare  his  life  and,  for  the  present  at  any  rate, 
to  allow  him  to  retain  the  throne.     He  would,  however, 
be  kept  henceforward  under  strict  surveillance,  and  every 
word  of  his  would  be  reported  to  her.     As  to  his  schemes 
of  reform,  which  at  first  she  had  encouraged,  little  dream- 
ing to  what  depths  of  folly  his  infatuate  presumption  would 
lead  him,  they  would  all  be  repealed.    How  dared  he  forget 
what  great  benefits  he  owed  her,  his  elevation  to  the  throne 
and   her   generosity   in   allowing   him   to  administer  the 
government,  he  a  poor  puppet,  who  had  no  right  to  be 
Emperor  at  all,   and  whom  she  could  unmake  at  will? 
There  was  not,  she  said,  a  single  Manchu  in  high  place  but 
wished  his  removal,  and  urged  her  to  resume  the  Regency. 
True,   he  had  sympathisers  among  the  Chinese,  traitors 
all;  with   them  she  would  deal   in   due  course.     Kuang 
Hsii's  secondary  consort  (the  Chen  Fei  or  Pearl  Concu- 
bine, the  only  one  of  his  wives  with  whom  he  seems  to 
have  been  on  affectionate  terms)  knelt  then  before  Tzu  Hsi, 
imploring  her  to  spare  the   Emperor  further  reproaches. 
She  actually  dared  to  suggest  that  he  was,  after  all,  the 
lawful  Sovereign  and  that  not  even  the  Empress  Dowager 
could  set  aside  the  mandate  of  Heaven.     Tzu  Hsi  angrily 
dismissed  her  from  the  Presence,  ordering  her  to  be  con- 
fined in  another  part  of  the  Palace,  where  she  remained 
until,  in   1900,  there  came  an  opportunity  in  which  the 


144    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

vindictive  Empress  took  summary  revenge  on  the  pre- 
sumptuous concubine.^ 

The  Empress  Consort,  with  whom  Kuang  Hsii  was 
hardly  on  speaking  terms,  was  commanded  to  remain  with 
him.  She,  as  Tzu  Hsi's  niece,  could  be  trusted  to  spy 
upon  the  Emperor  and  report  all  his  doings.  He  was 
allowed  to  see  no  one  but  her  and  the  eunuchs  in  attend- 
ance, except  in  the  presence  of  the  Empress  Dowager. 

To  the  end  of  his  life  Kuang  Hsii  blamed  Yiian  Shih- 
k'ai,  and  him  alone,  for  having  betrayed  him.  To  YUan 
he  owed  his  humiliation,  the  end  of  all  his  cherished  plans 
of  government  and  the  eighteen  months  of  solitary  con- 
finement which  he  had  to  endure  on  the  "Ocean  Terrace." 
Almost  his  last  words,  as  he  lay  dying,  were  to  bid  his 
brothers  remember  his  long  agony  and  promise  to  be 
revenged  upon  the  author  of  his  undoing.  Of  Jung  Lu 
he  said  that  it  was  but  natural  that  he  should  consider 
first  his  duty  to  the  Empress  Dowager  and  seek  to  warn 
her;  and,  after  all,  as  he  had  planned  Jung  Lu's  death,  he 
could  hardly  expect  from  him  either  devotion  or  loyalty. 
The  Old  Buddha's  resentment  was  also  natural;  he  had 
plotted  against  her  and  failed.  But  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  had 
solemnly  sworn  loyalty  and  obedience.  The  Emperor 
never  willingly  spoke  to  him  again,  even  when,  as  Viceroy 
of  Chihli,  Yiian  came  to  the  height  of  his  power. 

For  three  years  Yiian  lived  in  retirement,  and  under  the 
constant  shadow  of  fear;  for  the  Emperor's  brother,  the 
Regent,  kept  his  promise.  Such  were  the  intricate  humani- 
ties of  the  inner  circle  around  and  about  the  Dragon 
Throne,  the  never-ending  problem  of  the  human  equation 
as  a  factor  in  the  destinies  of  peoples. 

1  She  was  thrown  down  a  well,  by  Tzu  Hsi's  orders,  as  the  Court 
prepared  for  flight  after  the  entrance  of  the  allied  forces  into  Peking. 
{Vide  infra.) 


XIII 

TZtJ   HSI    RESUMES   THE  REGENCY   (1898) 

KuANG  Hsu's  reign  was  over;  there  remained  to  him 
only  the  Imperial  title.  He  had  had  his  chance;  in  the 
enthusiasm  of  youth  and  new  ideas  he  had  played  a 
desperate  game  against  the  powers  of  darkness  in  high 
places,  and  he  had  lost.  Once  more,  as  after  the  death  of 
T'ung-Chih,  Tzu  Hsi  could  make  a  virtue  of  her  satisfied 
ambitions.  She  had  given  her  nephew  a  free  hand,  she 
had  retired  from  the  field,  leaving  him  to  steer  the  ship 
of  State :  if  he  had  now  steered  it  into  troublous  and 
dangerous  seas,  if,  by  common  consent,  she  were  again 
called  to  take  the  helm,  this  was  the  doing  of  Heaven  and 
no  fault  of  hers.  She  could  no  more  be  blamed  for  Kuang 
HsU's  folly  than  for  the  vicious  habits  and  premature  death 
of  her  son,  which  had  brought  her  back  to  power  23 
years  before.  It  was  clear  (and  there  were  many  voices  to 
reassure  her  of  the  fact)  that  the  stars  in  their  courses  were 
working  for  the  continuance  of  her  unfettered  authority, 
and  that  any  trifling  assistance  which  she  might  have 
given  them  would  not  be  too  closely  scrutinised. 

Kuang  Hsii's  reign  was  over;  but  his  person  (frail, 
melancholy  tenement)  remained,  and  Tzu  Hsi  was  never 
enamoured  of  half  measures  or  ambiguous  positions.  From 
the  day  when  the  pitiful  monarch  entered  his  pavilion 
prison  on  the  "Ocean  Terrace,"  she  began  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  his  "mounting  the  Dragon"  and  "visiting  the 
Nine  Springs  "  in  the  orthodox  classical  manner,  and  for 
providing  the  Throne  with  another  occupant  whose  youth, 
connections  and  docility  would  enable  her  to  hold  the 
Regency  indefinitely.  Nevertheless,  because  of  the  tur- 
bulent temper  of  the  southern  provinces  and  possible 
manifestations  of  Europe's  curious  sympathy  with  the 
L  145 


146    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Emperor's  Utopian  dreams,  she  realised  the  necessity  for 
proceeding  with  caution  and  decorum.  It  was  commonly 
reported  throughout  the  city  in  the  beginning  of  October 
that  the  Emperor  would  die  with  the  end  of  the  Chinese 
year. 

Kuang  Hsii  was  a  prisoner  in  his  Palace,  doomed,  as  he 
well  knew ;  yet  must  he  play  the  puppet  Son  of  Heaven  and 
perform  each  season's  appointed  posturings.  On  the  8th 
day  of  the  8th  Moon  he  appeared  therefore,  as  ordered  by 
his  attendants,  and  in  the  presence  of  his  whole  Court 
performed  the  nine  prostrations  and  other  proper  acts  of 
obeisance  before  Her  Majesty  Tzu  Hsi,  in  recognition  of 
his  own  nonentity  and  her  supreme  authority.  In  the 
afternoon,  escorted  by  a  strong  detachment  of  Jung  Lu's 
troops,  he  went  from  the  Lake  Palace  to  sacrifice  at  the 
Altar  of  the  Moon.  Thus,  pending  the  coup-de-grdce,  the 
wretched  Emperor  went  through  the  empty  ceremonies  of 
State  ritual ;  high  priest,  that  was  himself  to  be  the  next 
victim,  how  bitter  must  have  been  his  thoughts  as  he  was 
borne  back  with  Imperial  pomp  and  circumstance  to  his 
lonely  place  of  humiliation  ! 

Tzu  Hsi  then  settled  down  to  her  work  of  government, 
returning  to  it  with  a  zest  by  no  means  diminished  by  the 
years  spent  in  retreat.  And  first  she  must  justify  the  policy 
of  reaction  to  herself,  to  her  high  officials,  and  the  world  at 
large.  She  must  get  rid  of  offenders  and  surround  herself 
with  men  after  her  own  heart. 

A  few  days  after  the  Autumn  festival  and  the  Emperor's 
melancholy  excursion.  Her  Majesty  proceeded  to  remind 
the  Imperial  Clansmen  that  their  position  would  not  pro- 
tect them  against  the  consequences  of  disloyalty;  she  was 
always  much  exercised  (remembering  the  Tsai  Yiian  con- 
spiracy) at  any  sign  of  intriguing  amongst  her  Manchu 
kinsmen.  In  this  case  her  warning  took  the  form  of  a 
Decree  in  which  she  sentenced  the  "Beileh"  Tsai  Ch'u  ^ 

1  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  Manchu  Prince  (Tsai  Ch'u)  was 
released  from  prison  by  the  Regent,  the  Emperor's  brother,  in  January 
1909,  and  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  one  of  the  Manchu  Banner 
Corps  on  the  same  day  that  Yiian  Shih-K'ai  was  dismissed  from  the 
viceroyalty  of  Chihli.  The  Emperor's  party,  as  opposed  to  the  Yehonala 
Clan,  heartily  approved  of  his  reinstatement 


TZO  HSI  RESUMES  THE  REGENCY   (1898)     147 

to  perpetual  confinement  in  the  **  Empty  Chamber  "  of  the 
Clan  Court.  Tsai  Ch'u  had  had  the  audacity  to  sympathise 
with  the  Emperor's  reform  schemes;  he  had  also  had  the 
bad  luck  to  marry  one  of  Tzu  Hsi's  nieces  and  to  be  upon 
the  worst  of  terms  with  her.  When  therefore  he  advised 
the  Emperor,  in  the  beginning  of  the  Hundred  Days,  to 
put  a  stop,  once  and  for  all,  to  the  Old  Buddha's  inter- 
ference in  State  affairs,  the  "mean  one  of  his  inner 
chamber"  did  not  fail  to  report  the  fact  to  Her  Majesty, 
and  thus  to  enlist  her  sympathies  and  activities,  from  the 
outset,  on  the  side  of  the  reactionaries. 

At  the  time  immediately  following  the  coup  d'etat,  public 
opinion  at  the  Capital  was  divided  as  to  the  merits  of  the 
Emperor's  proposed  reforms  and  the  wisdom  of  their  sup- 
pression, but  the  political  instincts  of  the  tribute-fed 
metropolis  are,  generally  speaking,  dormant,  and  what  it 
chiefly  respects  is  the  energetic  display  of  power.  So  that, 
on  the  whole,  sympathy  was  with  the  Old  Buddha.  She 
had,  moreover,  a  Bismarckian  way  of  guiding  public 
opinion,  of  directing  undercurrents  of  information  through 
the  eunuchs  and  tea-house  gossip,  in  a  manner  calculated 
to  appeal  to  the  instincts  of  the  literati  and  the  bourgeois; 
in  the  present  instance  stress  was  laid  on  the  Emperor's 
lack  of  filial  piety,  as  proved  by  his  plotting  against  his 
aged  and  august  aunt  (a  thing  unpardonable  in  the  eyes 
of  the  orthodox  Confucianist),  and  on  the  fact  that  he 
enjoyed  the  sympathy  and  support  of  foreigners — an 
argument  sufficient  to  damn  him  in  the  eyes  of  even  the 
most  progressive  Chinese.  It  came,  therefore,  to  be  the 
generally  accepted  opinion  that  His  Majesty  had  shown 
deplorable  want  of  judgment  and  self-control,  and  that  the 
Empress  Dowager  was  fully  justified  in  resuming  control 
of  the  government.  This  opinion  even  came  to  be 
accepted  and  expressed  by  those  Legations  which  had 
originally  professed  to  see  in  the  Emperor's  reforms  the 
dawn  of  a  new  era  for  China.  So  elastic  is  diplomacy  in 
following  the  line  of  the  least  resistance,  so  adroit  (in  the 
absence  of  a  policy  of  its  own)  in  accepting  and  condoning 
any  fait  accompli^  that  it  was  not  long  before  the  official 
attitude  of  the  Legations — including  the  British — had  come 


148    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

to  deprecate  the  Emperor's  unfortunate  haste  in  introduc- 
ing reforms,  reforms  which  every  foreigner  in  China  had 
urged  for  years,  and  which,  accepted  in  principle  by  the 
Empress  since  1900,  have  again  been  welcomed  as  proof 
of  China's  impending  regeneration.  In  June  1898,  the 
British  Minister  had  seen  in  the  Emperor's  Reform  Edicts 
proof  that  "the  Court  had  at  last  thoroughly  recognised 
a  real  need  for  radical  reform."  ^  In  October,  when  the 
Chief  Reformer  (K'ang  Yu-wei)  had  been  saved  from  Tzu 
Hsi's  vengeance  by  the  British  Consul-General  at  Shanghai 
and  conveyed  by  a  British  warship  to  the  protection  of  a 
British  Colony  (under  the  mistaken  impression  that 
England  would  actively  intervene  in  the  cause  of  progress 
and  on  grounds  of  self-interest  if  not  of  humanity),  we  find 
the  tide  of  expediency  turned  to  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
"the  Empress  Dowager  and  the  Manchu  party  were 
seriously  alarmed  for  their  own  safety,  and  looked  upon  the 
Reform  movement  as  inimical  to  Manchu  rule  "  !  ^  And 
two  months  later,  influenced  no  doubt  by  the  impending 
season  of  peace  and  good  will,  the  Marquess  of  Salisbury 
is  seriously  informed  by  Sir  Claude  Macdonald  that  the 
wives  of  the  foreign  Representatives,  seven  in  all,  had  been 
received  in  audience  by  the  Empress  Dowager  on  the 
anniversary  of  her  sixty-fourth  birthday,  and  that  Her 
Majesty  "made  a  most  favourable  impression,  both  by  the 
personal  interest  she  took  in  all  her  guests  and  by  her 
courteous  amiability."  ^  On  which  occasion  the  puppet 
Emperor  was  exhibited,  to  comply  with  the  formalities, 
and  was  made  to  shake  hands  with  all  the  ladies.  And  so 
the  curtain  was  rung  down,  and  the  Reform  play  ended, 
to  the  satisfaction  of  all  (or  nearly  all)  concerned. 

Nevertheless,  the  British  Minister  and  others,  disturbed 
at  the  persistent  rumours  that  "the  Empress  Dowager  was 
about  to  proceed  to  extreme  steps  in  regard  to  the 
Emperor,"  *  went  so  far  as  to  warn  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment against  anything  so  disturbing  to  the  European  sense 
of  fitness  and  decency.  Foreign  countries,  the  Yamen 
was  told,  would  view  with  displeasure  and  alarm  his  sudden 

1  Vide  Blue  Book  China  No.  i  of  1899,  letters  Nos.  266,  401,  and  426. 

2  Ibid.  »  Ibid.  *  Ibid. 


TZt5   HSI   RESUMES  THE   REGENCY   (1898)     149 

demise.  When  the  news  of  the  British  Minister's  inter- 
vention became  known  in  the  tea-houses  and  recorded  in 
the  Press,  much  indignation  was  expressed :  this  was  a 
purely  domestic  question,  for  which  precedents  existed  in 
plenty  and  in  which  foreigners'  advice  was  inadmissible. 
The  Emperor's  acceptance  of  new-fangled  foreign  ideas  was 
a  crime  in  the  eyes  of  the  Manchus,  but  his  enlistment  of 
foreign  sympathy  and  support  was  hateful  to  Manchus  and 
Chinese  alike. 

Matters  soon  settled  down,  however,  into  the  old  well- 
worn  grooves,  the  people  satisfied  and  even  glad  in  the 
knowledge  that  the  Old  Buddha  was  once  more  at  the 
helm.  In  the  capital  the  news  had  been  sedulously  spread 
— in  order  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  impending  drama 
of  expiation — that  Kuang  Hsii  had  planned  to  murder 
Her  Majesty,  and  his  present  punishment  was  therefore 
regarded  as  mild  beyond  his  deserts.^  Scholars,  compos- 
ing essays  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  freely  compared 
His  Majesty  to  that  Emperor  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty 
(a.d.  762)  who  had  instigated  the  murdering  of  the  Empress 
Dowager  of  his  day.  Kuang  Hsii's  death  was  therefore 
freely  predicted  and  its  effects  discounted ;  there  is  no  doubt 
that  it  would  have  caused  little  or  no  comment  in  the  north 
of  China,  however  serious  its  consequences  might  have 
been  in  the  south.  The  public  mind  having  been  duly 
prepared,  the  Empress  Dowager,  in  the  name  of  the  pro- 
spective victim,  issued  a  Decree  stating  that  the  Son  of 
Heaven  was  seriously  ill;  no  surprise  or  apprehension 
was  expressed,  and  the  sending  of  competent  physicians 
from  the  provinces  to  attend  His  Majesty  was  recognised 
as  a  necessary  concession  to  formalities.  "Ever  since  the 
4th  Moon,"  said  this  Decree  (t.  e.  since  the  beginning  of 
the  hundred  days  of  reform),  "  I  have  been  grievously  ill ; 
nor  can  I  find  any  alleviation  of  my  sickness."  It  was  the 
pro  forma  announcement  of  his  impending  despatch,  and 
as  such  it  was  received  by  the  Chinese  people. 

^  As  an  example  of  Chinese  official  methods  :  the  Shanghai  Taotai 
when  requesting  the  British  Consul-General's  assistance  to  arrest  K'ang 
Yu-wei,  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  Emperor  was  dead,  murdered  by 
the  Chief  Reformer.     V/de  Blue  Book  No.  i  of  1899,  letter  No.  401. 


150    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

But  the  sentence  was  not  carried  out.  The  Emperor 
lived  to  see  the  New  Year  and  thereafter  to  regain  his 
strength,  a  result  due  in  some  degree  to  the  Empress 
Dowager's  genuine  fear  of  foreign  intervention,  but  chiefly 
to  her  recognition  of  the  strength  of  public  opinion  against 
her  in  the  south  of  China  and  of  the  expediency  of  con- 
ciliating it.  In  the  Kuang  provinces  there  was  no  doubt 
of  the  bitterly  anti-Manchu  feeling  aroused  by  the  execution 
of  the  Cantonese  reformers  :  these  turbulent  southerners 
were  fierce  and  loud  in  their  denunciations  of  the  Manchus 
and  all  their  works,  and  it  would  not  have  required  much  to 
fan  the  flames  of  a  new  and  serious  rebellion.  The  south 
was  well  aware,  for  news  travels  swiftly  in  China,  that  the 
Emperor's  life  was  in  danger  and  that  the  close  of  the 
year  was  the  time  fixed  for  his  death,  and  from  all  sides 
protests  and  words  of  warning  came  pouring  from  the  pro- 
vinces to  the  capital,  addressed  not  only  to  the  metropolitan 
boards  but  to  the  Throne  itself.  Amongst  these  was  a 
telegram  signed  by  a  certain  Prefect  of  Shanghai  named 
Ching  Yiian-shan,  who,  in  the  name  of  "all  the  gentry, 
scholars,  merchants  and  public  of  Shanghai,"  referred  to 
the  Edict  which  announced  the  Emperor's  illness  and 
implored  the  Empress,  the  Clansmen  and  the  Grand 
Council  to  permit  his  sacred  Majesty  to  resume  the  govern- 
ment "notwithstanding  his  indisposition,"  and  to  abandon 
all  thoughts  of  his  abdication.  He  described  the  province 
of  Kiangsu  as  being  in  a  state  of  suppressed  ferment  and 
frankly  alluded  to  the  probability  of  foreigners  intervening 
in  the  event  of  the  Emperor's  death.  Tzu  Hsi  was  much 
incensed  with  this  courageous  official,  not  because  he 
actually  threatened  her  of  premeditating  murder,  but  be- 
cause he  dared  threaten  her  with  its  consequences.  She 
gave  orders  that  he  be  summarily  cashiered,  whereupon, 
fearing  further  manifestations  of  her  wrath,  he  fled  to 
Macao.  But  his  bold  words  undoubtedly  contributed  to 
saving  the  Emperor's  life. 

Of  all  the  high  provincial  authorities,  one  only  was 
found  brave  and  disinterested  enough  to  speak  on  behalf 
of  the  Emperor;   this  was  Liu   K'un-yi,  the  Viceroy  of 


TZO  HSI  RESUMES  THE   REGENCY   (1898)     151 

Nanking.  He  was  too  big  a  man  to  be  publicly  rebuked 
at  a  time  like  this  and  Tzu  Hsi  professed  to  admire  his 
disinterested  courage;  but  she  was  highly  incensed  at  his 
action,  which  contrasted  strongly  with  the  astute  oppor- 
tunism of  his  colleague,  the  scholarly  magnate  Chang 
Chih-tung,  Viceroy  of  Wuch'ang,  who  had  been  an  ardent 
advocate  of  the  reformers  so  long  as  the  wind  blew  fair  in 
that  quarter.  Only  six  months  before  he  had  recommended 
several  progressive  (amongst  them  his  own  secretary,  Yang 
Jui)  to  the  Emperor's  notice,  and  just  before  the  storm 
burst  he  had  been  summoned  to  Peking  by  Kuang  Hsu  to 
support  His  Majesty's  policy  as  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Council.  No  sooner  had  the  Empress  Dowager  declared 
herself  on  the  side  of  the  reactionaries,  however,  and  the 
Emperor  had  failed  in  his  attempt  to  win  over  Yiian  Shih- 
k'ai  and  his  troops,  than  Chang  telegraphed  to  the  Old 
Buddha  warmly  approving  her  policy,  and  urging  strong 
measures  against  the  reformers.  The  advice  was  super- 
fluous; Tzu  Hsi,  having  put  her  hand  to  the  plough,  was 
not  the  woman  to  remove  it  before  her  work  was  well 
done. 

On  the  nth  day  of  the  8th  Moon,  she  summoned  Jung 
Lu  to  the  capital  to  assist  her  in  stamping  out  the  reform 
movement.  The  Board  of  Punishments  had  just  sent  in  a 
memorial  urging  the  appointment  of  an  Imperial  Commis- 
sion for  the  trial  of  K'ang  Yu-wei's  colleagues.  Tzu  Hsi, 
in  reply,  directed  them  to  act  in  consultation  with  the 
Grand  Council  and  to  cross-examine  the  prisoners  "with 
the  utmost  severity."  At  the  same  time  she  ordered  the 
imprisonment  in  the  Board's  gaol  of  Chang  Yin-huan/ 

^  Chang  Yin-huan,  who  had  been  created  a  Knight  Grand  Cross  of  St. 
Michael  and  St.  George  in  connection  with  Queen  Victoria's  Jubilee 
celebration,  was  subsequently  put  to  death,  after  banishment  to  Turke- 
stan. An  order  given  by  Prince  Tuan  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Boxer  crisis  was  the  immediate  cause  of  his  execution. 

Another  reformer  named  Hsii  Chih-ching  was  condemned  to  imprison- 
ment for  life  in  the  Board  of  Punishments  under  this  same  Decree  ;  he 
was  released  by  the  Allies  in  August  1900,  when  he  proceeded  at  once  to 
T'ai-Yuan  fu,  and  handed  himself  over  to  justice,  disdaining  to  accept  his 
release  at  the  hands  of  foreigners.  This  incident  is  typical  of  the  Chinese 
officials'  attitude  of  mind  and  of  their  reverence  for  the  Decrees  of  the 
head  of  the  State. 


152    CHINA   UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

the  Emperor's  trusted  adviser  and  friend  who,  she 
observed,  *' bears  an  abominable  reputation."  This  Edict 
took  occasion  to  state  that  the  Throne,  anxious  to  temper 
justice  with  mercy,  would  refrain  from  any  general  pro- 
scription or  campaign  of  revenge,  "although  fully  aware 
that  many  prominent  scholars  and  officials  had  allowed 
themselves  to  be  corrupted  by  the  reformers." 

The  Empress's  next  step,  advised  by  Jung  Lu,  was  to 
issue  a  Decree,  in  the  name  of  the  Emperor,  in  which  she 
justified  the  policy  of  reaction  and  reassured  the  Conserva- 
y.tive  party.  The  document  was  an  excellent  example  of  her 
j/  methods.  While  the  Emperor  was  made  to  appear  as  con- 
vinced of  the  error  of  his  ways,  all  blame  for  the  "feelings 
of  apprehension  "  created  by  the  reform  movement  was  rele- 
gated to  "our  officials'  failure  to  give  effect  to  our  orders 
in  the  proper  way,"  so  that  everybody's  "face"  was 
saved. 

Shortly  afterwards  Jung  Lu  was  raised  to  membership 
of  the  Grand  Council,  and  given  supreme  command  of  the 
northern  forces  and  control  of  the  Board  of  War ;  he  thus 
became  the  most  powerful  official  in  the  Empire,  holding  a 
position  for  which  no  precedent  existed  in  the  annals  of 
the  Manchu  Dynasty.  He  had  once  more  proved  loyal  to 
the  Empress  and  faithful  to  the  woman  whom  he  had 
served  since  the  days  of  the  flight  to  Jehol;  and  he  had 
his  reward.  It  was  natural,  if  not  inevitable,  that  the  part 
played  by  Jung  Lu  in  the  crisis  of  the  coup  d'etat  should 
expose  him  to  severe  criticism,  especially  abroad;  but, 
from  the  Chinese  official's  point  of  view,  his  action  in  sup- 
porting the  Empress  Dowager  against  her  nephew,  the 
Emperor,  was  nothing  more  than  his  duty,  and  as  a  states- 
man he  showed  himself  consistently  moderate,  sensible, 
and  reliable.  The  denunciations  subsequently  poured 
upon  him  by  the  native  and  foreign  Press  at  the  time  of 
the  Boxer  rising  were  the  result,  partly  of  the  unrefuted 
falsehoods  disseminated  by  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his 
followers,  and  partly  of  the  Legations'  prejudice  (thence 
arising)  and  lack  of  accurate  information.  As  will  here- 
after be  shown,  all  his  efforts  were  directed  towards  stem- 


TZO  HSI   RESUMES  THE  REGENCY   (1898)     153 

ming  the  tide  of  that  fanatical  outbreak  and  restraining  his 
Imperial  mistress  from  acts  of  folly.  Amidst  the  cowardice, 
ignorance  and  cruelty  of  the  Manchu  Clansmen  his  fore- 
sight and  courage  stand  out  steadily  in  welcome  relief ;  the 
only  servant  of  the  Throne  during  Tzu  Hsi's  long  rule  who 
approaches  him  in  administrative  ability  and  disinterested 
patriotism  is  Tseng  Kuo-fan.  From  this  time  forward 
until  his  death  (1903)  we  find  him  ever  at  Tzu  Hsi's  right 
hand,  her  most  trusted  and  efficient  adviser ;  and  her  choice 
was  well  made.  As  will  be  seen  in  a  later  chapter,  there 
was  a  time  in  1900,  when  the  Old  Buddha,  distraught  by 
the  tumult  and  the  shouting,  misled  by  her  own  hopes, 
her  superstitious  beliefs  and  the  clamorous  advice  of  her 
kinsfolk,  allowed  Prince  Tuan  and  his  fellow  fanatics  to 
undermine  for  a  little  while  Jung  Lu's  influence.  Never- 
theless (as  will  be  seen  by  the  diary  of  Ching  Shan)  it  was 
to  him  that  she  always  turned,  in  the  last  resort,  for  counsel 
and  comfort ;  it  was  on  him  that  she  leaned  in  the  dark  hour 
of  final  defeat, — and  he  never  failed  her.  She  lived  to 
realise  that  the  advice  which  he  gave,  and  which  she  some- 
times neglected,  was  invariably  sound.  Amidst  all  the 
uncertainties  of  recent  Chinese  history  this  much  is  certain, 
that  the  memory  of  Jung  Lu  deserves  a  far  higher  place 
in  the  esteem  of  his  countrymen  and  of  foreigners  than  it 
has  hitherto  received.  Unaware  himself  of  many  of  the 
calumnies  that  had  been  circulated  about  him  at  the  time 
of  the  Court's  flight,  he  was  greatly  hurt,  and  his  sense  of 
justice  outraged,  by  the  cold  reception  given  him  by  the 
Legations  after  the  Court's  return  to  Peking.  Thereafter, 
until  his  death,  he  was  wont  to  say  to  his  intimate  friends 
that  while  he  would  never  regret  the  stand  he  had  taken 
against  the  Boxers,  he  could  not  understand  or  forgive  the 
hostility  and  ingratitude  shown  him  by  foreigners.  "It 
was  not  for  love  towards  them,"  he  observed,  on  one  occa- 
sion recorded,  "that  he  had  acted  as  he  did,  but  only 
because  of  his  devotion  to  the  Empress  Dowager  and  the 
Manchu  Dynasty;  nevertheless,  since  his  action  had 
coincided  with  the  interests  of  the  foreigner,  he  was  entitled 
to  some  credit  for  it." 


154    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

The  Empress  Dowager  consulted  long  and  earnestly  with 
Jung  Lu  as  to  the  punishment  to  be  inflicted  upon  the 
reformers.  He  advocated  strong  measures  of  repression, 
holding  that  the  prestige  of  the  Manchu  Dynasty  was 
involved.  The  six  prisoners  were  examined  by  the  Board 
of  Punishments,  and  Jung  Lu  closely  questioned  them  as 
to  K'ang  Yu-wei's  intentions  in  regard  to  the  Empress 
Dowager.  Documents  found  in  K'ang*s  house  had 
revealed  every  detail  of  the  plot;  thereupon  the  Grand 
Council  recommended  the  execution  of  all  the  prisoners. 
There  being  no  doubt  that  they  had  been  guilty  of  high 
treason  against  Her  Majesty,  it  seemed  clearly  inadvisable 
to  prolong  the  trial,  especially  as  there  was  undoubtedly  a 
risk  of  widening  the  breach  between  Manchus  and  Chinese 
by  any  delay  in  the  proceedings,  at  a  time  when  party 
spirit  was  running  high  on  both  sides.  The  Old  Buddha 
concurred  in  the  decision  of  the  Grand  Council,  desiring 
to  terminate  the  crisis  as  soon  as  possible ;  accordingly,  on 
the  13th  day  of  the  Moon,  the  reformers  were  executed. 
They  met  their  death  bravely,  their  execution  outside  the 
city  being  witnessed  by  an  immense  crowd.  It  was  reported 
that  amongst  the  papers  of  Yang  Jui  were  found  certain 
highly  compromising  letters  addressed  to  him  by  the 
Emperor  himself,  in  which  the  Empress  Dowager  was 
bitterly  denounced.  There  was  also  a  Memorial  by  Yang 
impeaching  Her  Majesty  for  gross  immorality  and  illicit 
relations  with  several  persons  in  high  positions,  one  of 
whom  was  Jung  Lu ;  this  document  had  been  annotated  in 
red  ink  by  the  Emperor  himself.  It  quoted  songs  and 
ballads  current  in  the  city  of  Canton,  referring  to  Her 
Majesty's  alleged  vicious  practices,  and  warned  the  Em- 
peror that,  if  the  Manchu  dynasty  should  come  now  to  its 
end,  the  fault  would  lie  as  much  with  Tzu  Hsi  and  her  evil 
deeds  as  was  the  case  when  the  Shang  dynasty  (of  the 
1 2th  century  B.C.)  fell  by  reason  of  the  Emperor  Chou 
Hsin's  infatuation  for  his  concubine  Ta  Chi,  whose  orgies 
are  recorded  in  history.  Yang  Jui  had  compared  the  Em- 
press Dowager's  life  at  the  Summer  Palace  with  the  enorm- 
ities committed  by  this  infamous  concubine  in  her  palace 


TZtJ  HSI  RESUMES  THE  REGENCY   (1898)     155 

by  the  "Lake  of  Wine";  small  wonder  then,  said  Tzu 
Hsi's  advocates  in  defence  of  drastic  measures,  that,  having 
seen  for  herself  in  the  Emperor's  own  handwriting,  that 
these  treasonable  utterances  met  with  his  favour  and  sup- 
port. Her  Majesty  was  vindictively  inclined  and  deter- 
mined to  put  an  end,  once  and  for  all,  to  his  relations  with 
the  Reform  party. 

The  Edict  which  ordered  the  execution  of  the  Reform 
leaders  was  drafted  by  the  Empress  Dowager  herself  with 
the  aid  of  Jung  Lu,  but  with  cynical  irony  it  was  issued  in 
the  name  of  the  Emperor.  It  was  written  in  red  ink  as  an 
indication  of  its  special  importance,  a  formality  usually 
reserved  for  decrees  given  by  the  Sovereign  under  his  own 
hand.  After  laying  stress  upon  the  necessity  for  intro- 
ducing reforms  in  the  country's  administration,  and  on 
the  anxiety  felt  by  the  Throne  in  regard  to  the  increasing 
difficulties  of  government,  this  Decree  proceeded  to  state 
that  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his  followers,  taking  advantage  of 
the  necessities  of  the  moment,  had  entered  into  a  rebellious 
conspiracy,  aiming  at  the  overthrow  of  the  Throne  itself; 
fortunately,  their  treacherous  intentions  had  been  disclosed, 
and  the  whole  plot  revealed. 

The  Decree  then  proceeded  to  award  the  death  penalty  to 
K'ang  Yu-wei's  colleague,  Liang  Ch'i-ch'ao,  a  scholar  of 
the  highest  repute,  who  subsequently  found  a  refuge  in 
Japan,  and  there  edited  a  newspaper  of  high  and  well- 
deserved  reputation.  Next  in  order  of  importance  were  the 
three  Secretaries  of  the  Grand  Council,  who  were  awaiting 
the  result  of  their  trial  in  the  Board  of  Punishments.  The 
Edict  added  that  any  delay  in  their  execution  might,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Grand  Council,  lead  to  a  revolutionary 
movement,  and  for  this  reason  further  formalities  of  justice 
in  regard  to  all  six  prisoners  were  dispensed  with,  and  their 
summary  decapitation  ordered. 

Despite  the  Throne's  "all  abounding  clemency"  and 
Tzu  Hsi's  declared  intention  to  take  no  steps  beyond  the 
execution  of  the  six  reform  leaders,  her  "divine  wrath" 
continued  to  be  stirred  up  by  the  recollection  of  the  personal 
attacks  that  had  been  made  against  her.    Following  imme- 


156    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

diately  upon  the  Decree  above  mentioned,  came  another, 
whereby  Chang  Yin-huan  was  sentenced  to  banishment  to 
the  New  Dominion  on  a  vague  charge  of  the  usual  classical 
type.  His  real  offence  lay  in  that  he  had  denounced  the 
Empress  Dowager  for  extravagance,  and  she  was  the  more 
embittered  against  him  because  the  British  Minister  had 
presumed  to  intervene  with  a  plea  for  his  life. 

In  another  Decree  the  proposed  visit  to  Tientsin  was 
cancelled,  at  the  earnest  request  of  Jung  Lu,  who  dreaded 
the  possibility  of  an  attempt  on  the  life  of  the  Empress 
Dowager.  Her  feminine  curiosity  had  been  stirred  by  the 
prospect  of  a  visit  to  the  Treaty  port  and  a  change  from 
the  seclusion  of  Peking,  but  she  yielded  to  the  advice  of 
the  Commander-in-Chief.  At  the  same  time  military 
reorganisation  was  pressed  forward  with  the  greatest 
energy,  and  the  occasion  was  taken  to  bestow  largesse  on 
the  Chihli  troops. 

Upon  Jung  Lu  coming  to  Peking,  Yii  Lu  was  appointed 
to  succeed  him  as  Viceroy  of  Chihli.  This  bigoted  official 
enjoyed  in  a  large  measure  the  confidence  of  the  Empress 
Dowager.  Unusually  ignorant,  even  for  a  Manchu,  and 
totally  devoid  of  ability,  he  was  subsequently  responsible 
for  the  growth  of  the  Boxer  movement  in  and  around  Tient- 
sin. At  this  particular  crisis,  however,  distrust  of  the 
Chinese  was  rife,  and  the  Old  Buddha  felt  that  the  presence 
of  a  Manchu  Viceroy  to  control  the  Metropolitan  Province 
was  necessary  to  prevent  any  organised  movement  by  the 
revolutionaries. 

By  this  time  the  violent  measures  of  the  reactionary  party 
had  aroused  a  storm  of  indignation  in  the  South,  where 
societies  were  being  organised  in  support  of  His  Majesty 
Kuang-Hsii.  Newspapers  published  in  the  foreign  settle- 
ments at  Shanghai  repeated  daily  the  wildest  and  bitterest 
denunciations  against  Her  Majesty  and  Jung  Lu,  the  latter 
being  specially  singled  out  for  attack.  The  writers  of  these 
articles,  evidently  inspired  by  the  fugitive  reform  leaders, 
declared  that  the  movement  in  Peking  was  essentially  anti- 
Chinese,  and  that  it  would  undoubtedly  end  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  Manchus  to  all  important  posts  in  the  Empire.    On 


TZtJ  HSI   RESUMES  THE  REGENCY   (1898)     157 

the  other  hand,  anti-foreign  disturbances  were  fomented 
in  several  provinces  by  those  who  believed  that  the  Empress 
Dowager  would  be  gratified  by  these  manifestations  of 
public  feeling.  This  state  of  affairs  was  undoubtedly 
fraught  with  serious  danger,  to  which  the  attention  of  the 
Empress  Dowager  was  drawn  in  a  very  plain-spoken 
Memorial  by  a  Censor  and  Imperial  Clansman  named  Hui 
Chang. 

The  memorialist  congratulated  the  Throne  upon  the 
energetic  and  successful  suppression  of  K'ang  Yu-wei*s 
treason,  an  achievement  which  would  redound  iof  ever  to 
the  fame  of  the  Old  Buddha.  He  then  referred  to  the 
general  futility  of  Edicts,  and  advised  that  special  honours 
should  be  accorded  to  a  few  selected  Chinese  of  undoubted 
loyalty  and  orthodoxy,  by  which  means  public  opinion 
would  be  reassured.  He  justly  observed  that,  if  those  who 
had  been  guilty  of  high  treason  had  been  made  to  suffer 
the  penalty,  those  who  had  been  consistently  loyal  should 
be  suitably  rewarded.  He  advised  that  all  those  who, 
during  the  past  few  months,  had  sent  in  Memorials  de- 
nouncing the  reform  movement  and  rebuking  the  corrupt 
tendencies  of  the  so-called  new  scholarship,  should  be 
advanced  in  the  public  service.  Finally,  he  made  the 
significant  observation,  that  loyalty  and  patriotism  when 
displayed  by  Chinese  subjects  were  of  greater  value  to  the 
integrity  of  the  Empire  than  these  virtues  when  displayed 
by  Manchus,  an  indication  of  statecraft  likely  to  appeal  to 
the  acute  intelligence  of  the  Old  Buddha.  The  Empress 
Dowager's  reply,  while  ostensibly  in  the  nature  of  a  rebuke, 
was  marked  by  unusual  evasiveness  on  the  subject  actually 
at  issue.  She  laid  stress  only  on  the  strict  impartiality  of 
the  Throne's  decision,  professing  to  be  animated  by  feel- 
ings of  abstract  justice,  and  to  be  free  from  all  manner  of 
prejudice,  whether  against  Manchus  or  Chinese.  The 
Memorialist  was,  however,  shortly  afterwards  promoted, 
and  as  proof  of  her  impartiality,  the  Empress  Dowager  pro- 
ceeded, on  the  same  day,  to  dismiss  half-a-dozen  high 
officials,  one  of  whom  was  a  Manchu ;  and  on  the  ground 
that  Jung  Lu  himself  had  recommended  one  of  the  re- 


158    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

formers  for  employment,  she  ordered  that  he  too  be  referred 
to  the  Board  of  Civil  Appointments  for  the  determination 
of  a  suitable  penalty.    This  was  merely  "saving  face." 

Stirred,  as  usual,  to  activity  by  anything  in  the  nature 
of  criticism.  Her  Majesty  now  issued  Decrees  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. One  of  these  declared  the  necessity  for  adequate 
protection  of  foreigners  in  the  interior  and  for  the  Lega- 
tions in  Peking ;  another  took  the  form  of  a  homily  to  the 
Provincial  Authorities  in  regard  to  the  selection  of  sub- 
ordinate officials.  A  third  called  for  advice  from  the  Pro- 
vincial Viceroys  and  Governors,  but  they  were  told,  at  the 
same  time,  to  avoid  criticising  on  party  grounds  because 
"the  Throne  was  fully  aware  of  the  motives  which  usually 
inspire  such  attacks." 

Subsequently,  the  Empress  Dowager  took  occasion  in  a 
homily  on  the  whole  art  of  government,  to  place  on  record 
a  defence  of  her  policy  as  head  of  the  Manchus  in  China. 
The  following  extract  from  this  Decree  is  worth  quoting  :  — 

"The  test  of  good  government  has  always  been  the  absence 
of  rebellion;  a  State  which  takes  adequate  measures  for  self- 
defence  can  never  be  in  serious  danger.  By  the  accumulated 
wisdom  of  six  successive  Sovereigns,  our  dynasty  has  succeeded 
in  establishing  a  system  of  government,  based  on  absolute 
justice  and  benevolence,  which  approaches  very  nearly  to  per- 
fection. It  has  been  our  pleasure  to  grant  immediate  relief  in 
times  of  flood  and  famine.  When  rivers  burst  their  banks,  our 
first  thought  has  ever  been  the  safety  of  our  people.  Never 
have  we  resorted  to  conscription,  or  to  the  levying  of  corvdes. 
We  have  always  excluded  Chinese  women  from  service  as 
subordinates  in  the  Palace.  Surely  such  evidences  of  bene- 
volent solicitude  merit  the  hearty  co-operation  of  all  our  subjects, 
and  entitle  us  to  expect  that  all  our  people,  high  and  low, 
should  peacefully  pursue  their  business  in  life,  so  that  all  men, 
even  the  humblest  labourers,  may  enjoy  the  blessings  of  peace. 
Is  it  any  wonder  then,  that  our  soul  is  vexed  when  abominable 
treachery  and  the  preaching  of  rebellion  have  been  permitted  to 
exist  and  to  be  spread  broad-cast;  when  high  officials,  lacking 
all  proper  principles,  have  dared  to  recommend  traitors  to  the 
Throne,  in  furtherance  of  their  own  evil  designs?  When  we 
think  of  these  things,  our  righteous  indignation  almost  over- 
whelms us;  nevertheless,  we  have  granted  a  general  amnesty, 
and  will  enquire  no  further  into  these  base  plottings." 

The  Decree  concluded  with  the  usual  exhortation  to  the 
official  class,  and  an  appeal  for  the  exercise  of  ideal  virtue. 


TZO  HSL  RESUMES  THE  REGENCY   (1898)     159 

Her  Majesty*s  next  step  was  to  reinstate  certain  leading 
reactionaries,  whom  the  Emperor  had  recently  dismissed, 
notably  Hsii  Ying-k'uei,  who  had  denounced  the  reformer 
Wang  Chao.  The  Emperor's  party  was  now  completely 
broken  up,  and  he  was  left  without  supporters  or  friends 
in  Peking.  The  Manchu  Treasurer  of  Kansuh  (Tseng  Ho) 
was  the  last  high  official  to  speak  in  favour  of  the  reform 
movement,  or  rather  of  one  of  its  chief  advocates,  and,  by 
so  doing,  to  bring  down  upon  him  the  wrath  of  the  Old 
Buddha.  The  Memorial  which  brought  about  his  summary 
dismissal  from  office,  never  again  to  be  re-employed, 
referred  in  terms  of  regret  to  the  disgrace  of  Weng  T'ung- 
ho,  the  Emperor's  tutor. 

Her  Majesty  next  turned  her  attention  to  the  provinces, 
and  administered  a  severe  rebuke  to  Liu  K'un-yi,  who,  on 
grounds  of  ill-health,  had  asked  to  be  relieved  of  the  Nank- 
ing Viceroyalty.  Her  Majesty,  reminding  him  in  the 
classical  phraseology  of  the  high  favours  showered  upon 
him  by  the  Throne,  directed  him  to  abstain  from  frivolous 
excuses  and  to  continue  in  the  performance  of  his  duties, 
exercising  more  diligence  therein,  and  more  care  in  his 
selection  of  subordinate  officials. 

The  audacity  of  Weng  T'ung-ho  continued  to  rankle 
sorely  in  Her  Majesty's  mind,  and  to  allow  him  to  con- 
tinue to  live  in  honourable  retirement  in  his  native  place 
without  loss  of  rank  or  other  punishment  was  not  in  accord- 
ance with  her  ideas  of  fitness;  nor  was  it  likely  that  Jung 
Lu,  who  had  always  borne  a  grudge  against  the  Imperial 
tutor,  would  do  anything  to  mitigate  her  wrath  against 
him.  In  a  Decree,  issued  in  the  name  of  the  Emperor,  she 
once  more  vented  her  spite  on  this  aged  and  inoffensive 
scholar,  in  a  manner  highly  characteristic  of  her  tempera- 
ment, and  ordered  that  he  be  cashiered,  never  again  to  be 
re-employed,  and  that  henceforth  he  be  held  under  close 
supervision  of  the  local  authorities  and  prohibited  from 
creating  trouble,  as  a  warning  to  all  double-minded  officials 
for  the  future."  ^ 

^  Weng  T'ungho  was  posthumously  restored  to  his  full  rank  and  titles 
by  a  Decree  of  the  Regent.  Thus  was  the  Emperor  tardily  justified  and 
the  pale  ghosts  of  his  followers  continued  to  sufifer,  even  in  Hades,  the 
chances  and  changes  of  Chinese  official  life  ! 


i6o    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Weng  T*ung-ho  lived  in  his  family  home  (Chang  Shu 
in  Kiangsu)  until  June,  1904,  beloved  and  respected  by  all 
who  knew  him.  He  was  by  no  means  a  nonentity  like  most 
of  the  aged  officials  near  the  Throne,  but  rather  a  person  of 
considerable  force  of  character,  and  after  his  dismissal  lived 
always  in  the  hope  that  he  might  yet  return  to  serve  the 
Emperor  and  the  cause  of  reform  upon  the  death  of  the 
Old  Buddha.  Meanwhile,  he  became  a  source  of  consider- 
able trouble  and  anxiety  to  the  District  Magistrate  of  his 
native  place,  as  he  made  it  his  practice  to  call  on  that 
official  three  times  a  month,  and,  in  the  guise  of  a  sup- 
pliant, to  address  him,  thus,  on  his  knees:  "You  have 
orders  from  the  Throne  secretly  to  keep  watch  over  my 
conduct,  and  I  therefore  now  attend,  as  in  duty  bound,  to 
assist  you  in  carrying  out  these  orders."  As  the  Magistrate 
could  never  be  certain  that  the  once  all-powerful  Grand 
Secretary  might  not  return  to  power,  his  own  position  was 
evidently  one  of  considerable  embarrassment,  especially 
as  the  Weng  family  was  the  most  important  of  the  whole 
neighbourhood.  In  the  intervals  of  baiting  local  officials, 
the  Grand  Secretary  spent  his  time  in  scholarly  retirement, 
and  a  volume  of  the  letters  written  by  him  at  this  period 
has  since  been  published;  they  show  the  man  in  a  most 
attractive  light,  as  a  scholar  and  a  poet ;  his  light  and  easy 
style,  combined  with  a  tendency  to  mysticism  and  philo- 
sophic speculation,  has  always  been  highly  appreciated  by 
the  literati.  As  his  fortune  had  not  been  taken  from  him, 
his  old  age  was  probably  happier  in  his  native  place  than 
had  it  been  exposed  to  the  intrigues  and  hard  work  of 
official  life  at  the  Capital ;  and  he  died  in  the  enjoyment  of 
a  reputation  for  patriotism  and  intelligence  which  extended 
far  beyond  his  native  province,  and  which,  since  his  death, 
has  greatly  increased. 

The  Empress  Dowager,  realising  that  the  loyalty  of  the 
literati  had  been  greatly  shaken  by  the  Emperor's  abolition 
of  the  old  system  of  classical  studies  and  public  examina- 
tions, proceeded  to  reverse  His  Majesty's  decision  in  a 
Decree  which  thoroughly  delighted  the  Conservative  Party. 
Scholars  throughout  the  country  praised  it  in  unmeasured 


TZO  HSI   RESUMES  THE  REGENCY   (1898)     161 

terms,  as  a  striking  example  of  the  Old  Buddha's  acute 
reasoning  powers.  To  a  certain  extent  it  may  be  admitted 
that  the  new  system  of  examinations  introduced  by  the 
Emperor  had  led,  at  the  outset,  to  abuses  which  were  absent 
under  the  old  classical  system,  where  the  anonymity  of 
candidates  was  a  cardinal  principle.  Her  Majesty  dealt 
with  the  question  by  ordering — 

"  that,  for  the  future,  the  old  system  shall  be  restored,  and  that 
public  examinations  shall  henceforward  consist  of  themes  and 
extracts  from  the  Classics.  A  special  examination  for  students 
of  political  economy,  lately  authorised,  has  been  shown  to  be 
productive  of  evil,  and  is  therefore  abolished.  It  is  the  wish 
of  the  Throne  that  these  public  examinations  shall  be  in 
reality  a  sound  test  of  merit.  Examiners  and  candidates  alike 
should  avoid  meretricious  adornments  of  style,  and  endeavour 
to  conform  strictly  to  the  classical  models." 

Souvent  femme  varie,  and  the  mind  of  Tzu  Hsi  never  ran 
consistently  for  long  in  the  same  groove.  Anxious  always 
as  to  her  popularity  with  all  parties  in  the  State,  and  with 
a  view  to  adjusting  that  nice  equilibrium  of  conflicting 
forces  which  constituted  the  pride  of  her  statecraft  and  the 
strength  of  her  rule,  we  find  her  next  issuing  a  Decree 
which  set  forth  the  principles  by  which  she  professed  to  be 
guided.  This  Decree  reflected  a  certain  amount  of  anxiety 
and  a  doubt  as  to  whether  the  punishment  inflicted  on  the 
leading  reformers  might  not  be  severely  criticised  by  the 
outside  world. 

Her  Majesty  next  turned  her  attention  to  the  necessities 
and  distressing  condition  of  her  people  at  large,  and 
ordered  that  measures  should  once  more  be  taken  to  prevent 
the  constant  destruction  of  life  and  property  by  the  Yellow  v 
River  in  Shantung  Province.  She  was  under  no  delusion 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  measures  taken  in  the  past  to 
remedy  "China's  Sorrow"  which,  from  time  immemorial 
has  been  the  happy  hunting-ground  of  peculating  official- 
dom ;  nor  could  she  expect  that  her  stereotyped  exhortations 
to  virtue  in  this  matter  would  afford  her  subjects  any  par- 
ticular gratification.  Her  Majesty  alluded  to  the  fact  that 
"frequent  repairs  to  the  banks  of  the  Yellow  River  had 
not  appeared  to  produce  any  permanent  results,"  but  the 


i62    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

remedy  which  she  applied,  viz.,  a  consultation  between  the 
Grand  Council  and  the  various  Ministries  with  the  Censor- 
ate,  was  not  very  reassuring.  Nor  was  her  subsequent 
decision  to  send  Li  Hung-chang,  to  estimate  on  the  spot 
the  sum  required  for  the  construction  of  effective  river 
conservancy  works,  calculated  to  convince  the  public  of  the 
sincerity  of  her  benevolent  intentions. 

As  in  the  days  immediately  following  her  first  assump- 
tion of  power  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Tsai  Yiian  con- 
spiracy in  1861,  the  Empress  Dowager  at  this  period  dis- 
played remarkable  activity  in  every  direction,  as  is  shown 
by  the  number  of  her  Decrees  at  this  period.  After  dealing 
with  the  Yellow  River,  she  turned  her  attention  to  another 
permanent  and  crying  evil,  which  for  centuries  has  weighed 
heavily  upon  the  lower  classes  of  the  Chinese  people,  viz., 
the  interminable  delay  and  heavy  cost  of  legal  proceedings 
and  the  hardships  thus  inflicted  on  all  who  may  be  com- 
pelled to  seek  justice  at  the  hands  of  Chinese  officials. 

Her  Majesty,  in  her  Edict  on  the  subject,  showed  a  very 
close  knowledge  of  the  abuses  with  which,  indeed,  all 
Chinese  are  fully  acquainted,  but  which  official  documents 
usually  ignore.  It  is  no  doubt  largely  to  her  frankness  in 
cases  of  this  kind  that  the  Old  Buddha's  widespread  reputa- 
tion for  good  nature  and  tender-heartedness  may  be 
ascribed.  Throughout  the  country,  but  especially  in  the 
north,  it  has  always  been  the  opinion  of  the  peasantry  and 
of  the  merchant  class,  that  the  Old  Buddha  was,  if  any- 
thing, too  tender-hearted,  and  that  her  extreme  mildness  of 
disposition,  though  no  doubt  laudable,  was  on  many  occa- 
sions a  source  of  danger.  To  her  untimely  "benevolence  " 
the  populace  in  Peking  in  1900  undoubtedly  ascribed  the 
fact  that  the  foreigners  and  native  Christians  were  not 
massacred  en  masse  before  the  arrival  of  the  relief  expedi- 
tion. In  this  Decree,  on  the  subject  of  lawsuits.  Her 
Majesty  states  that  she  has  recently  learned  that  legal  pro- 
ceedings are  frequently  hung  up  for  several  months  at  a 
time,  and  that  innocent  persons  have  been  detained  in 
custody  for  indefinite  periods  pending  enquiry. 

The  Empress  Dowager  was  much  incensed  at  the  sym- 
pathy for  the  Emperor  shown  by  foreigners  both  in  China 


TZtJ  HSI   RESUMES  THE  REGENCY   (1898)     163 

and  abroad,  a  sympathy  which  was  reflected  for  a  time  in 
the  attitude  of  the  British  Minister  and  other  members  of 
the  Diplomatic  Body  at  Peking.  Adopting,  however,  that 
policy  of  "conciliation  pending  a  fitting  opportunity  for 
hostilities,"  which  (as  will  be  seen  in  another  place)  she 
had  learned  from  study  of  the  classics,  she  invited  the 
wives  of  the  foreign  Ministers  and  other  Legation  ladies  to 
an  audience  in  the  Palace  at  the  beginning  of  the  winter, 
and  treated  them  with  such  courtesy  and  consideration  that 
she  won  their  hearts  in  a  day.  That  her  friendliness  was 
entirely  assumed,  we  have  learned  from  her  own  statements, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that,  from  this  time  forward,  she 
came  more  and  more  under  the  influence  of  the  chief 
reactionary  Kang  Yi,  who,  during  the  absence  of  Jung 
Lu  on  leave,  was  able  to  persuade  her  that  the  first  essential 
towards  improving  the  country's  military  resources  was  the 
organisation  of  bands  of  militia  throughout  the  Empire. 
By  missionaries  who  were  close  observers  of  events  in 
Shantung  and  other  headquarters  of  this  patriotic  move- 
ment, it  was  soon  realised  that  this  military  activity  was 
directed  primarily  against  foreigners,  and  owed  its  origin 
in  the  first  instance  to  the  Empress  Dowager's  approval  of 
Kang  Yi's  policy  of  violent  reaction. 

The  Decrees  issued  at  this  period  leave  us  in  some  doubt 
as  to  whether  the  Empress  herself  understood  clearly  the 
forces  that  were  about  to  be  let  loose  in  these  so-called 
military  train-bands,  and  her  subsequent  vacillation  in 
regard  to  the  Boxers  would  seem  to  afford  an  indication, 
if  not  proof,  that  she  acted  impulsively  and  without  full 
knowledge,  under  the  influence  of  Kang  Yi.  But  the 
question  rapidly  increased  in  importance,  and  gradually 
Her  Majesty's  Decrees  made  it  clear  that  the  potential 
power  of  the  train-bands  as  a  national  force  was  gradually 
impressing  itself  upon  her  mind,  where,  as  we  know,  the 
hope  of  revenge  on  foreigners  was  ever  latent.  One  Edict 
contained  the  following  passage  : — 

"Recent  events  have  caused  me  the  greatest  grief  and 
anxiety;  by  day  and  by  night,  in  the  seclusion  of  my  Palace, 
my  thoughts  dwell  on  these  matters,  and  my  one  object  is 
to  secure  the  tranquillity  and  prosperity  of  my  subjects  by  the 


i64    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

organisation  of  adequate  military  forces.  My  purposes,  set 
forth  in  numerous  Decrees,  regarding  the  organisation  of  a 
strong  army,  the  improvement  of  communications,  and  the 
formation  of  train-bands  and  militia,  aim  all  at  strengthening 
the  Empire  and  promoting  the  contentment  of  my  people." 

After  reiterating  the  substance  of  former  Decrees,  Her 
Majesty  proceeds  pathetically  to  complain  "that  they  have 
to  a  large  extent  been  ignored,  or  merely  transmitted  by 
one  provincial  authority  to  another,  descending  from  the 
Governor  to  the  District  Magistrate  through  the  usual 
routine  channels,  and  eventually  pigeon-holed  as  so  much 
waste  paper."  She  admits  frankly  that  this  method  of 
treating  Imperial  Decrees  is  quite  usual,  and  that  it  has  the 
sanction  of  tradition,  but  she  insists  that  the  time  has  come 
for  a  change,  and  therefore  nov^  directs  that  all  her  Decrees 
are  in  future  to  be  printed  on  special  Imperial  yellow  paper, 
and  their  contents  made  known  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  Empire. 

After  further  earnest  exhortations  to  patriotism,  and  to 
that  keen  sense  of  duty  which  alone  can  develop  efficiency 
in  the  public  service,  she  directed  that  the  local  officials 
should  keep  closer  touch  with  the  gentry  and  the  elders  of 
the  people,  and  that  officers  in  command  of  military  forces 
are  to  explain  clearly  to  the  rank  and  file  the  objects  which 
Her  Majesty  has  in  view  in  deciding  upon  military 
organisation. 

Certain  writers  have  pointed  to  the  numerous  and  plain- 
spoken  Decrees  issued  by  Tzu  Hsi  at  this  period,  as  proof 
that  her  heart  was  really  set  upon  effectively  reforming 
the  country's  administration,  but  it  is  always  difficult  for 
foreigners,  and  even  for  Chinese  outside  the  Palace,  to 
form  any  concise  idea  as  to  the  inner  meaning  of  these 
lucubrations,  and  how  much  of  them  was,  on  any  particular 
occasion,  to  be  taken  as  something  outside  of  the  traditional 
and  stereotyped  utterances  of  the  Throne.  It  is  certain 
that  she  herself  failed  to  exercise  the  personal  influence 
and  example  that  would  have  convinced  the  world  of  her 
sincerity,  and  that  she  did  nothing  to  put  her  house  of  the 
Forbidden  City  in  order  or  to  do  away  with  the  manifest 
and  notorious  abuses  at  her  Court. 


TZU  HSI   RESUMES  THE  REGENCY    (1898)     165 

The  Old  Buddha  concluded  this  remarkable  display  of 
literary  and  political  activity  by  returning  once  more  to 
the  grievance  which  rankled  most  deeply,  viz.,  that  the 
chief  conspirator  against  her  sacred  authority  and  person 
had  made  good  his  escape.  Professing  to  believe  that  the 
heinousness  of  K'ang  Yu-wei's  crimes  was  not  fully 
realised  by  her  people,  she  issued  another  Decree  on  the 
subject,  in  December,  as  follows  : — 

"T'an  Chung-lin,  Viceroy  of  Canton,  has  memorialised 
stating  that  he  has  brought  to  light,  by  searches  at  K'ang  Yu- 
wei's  birthplace,  a  large  quantity  of  documents,  chiefly 
correspondence  between  the  members  of  K'ang 's  party,  together 
with  certain  seals,  made  of  stone ;  all  of  which  he  has  forwarded 
for  our  personal  inspection.  These  letters  contain  a  mass  of 
treasonable  matter.  In  one  place  the  suggestion  is  actually 
made  that  T'an  Ssu-t'ung  (one  of  the  reformers  executed) 
should  be  nominated  as  President  of  the  Chinese  Republic ! 
The  writers  ignore  the  present  Dynasty  even  in  dating  their 
correspondence,  and  use  instead  a  chronology  which  begins 
with  the  birth  of  Confucius ;  one  of  them  has  actually  had  the 
unbounded  audacity  to  describe  the  present  Dynasty  as 
*  perfectly  useless. '  Abominable  wickedness  of  this  kind  shows 
that  these  men  were  something  worse  than  ordinary  rebels  and 
parricides.  Their  correspondence  implicates  an  enormous 
number  of  persons,  but,  as  the  Throne  desires  to  show  mercy 
and  to  refrain  from  any  further  enquiry  into  this  matter,  the 
whole  correspondence  has  now  been  burnt  by  our  orders. 

"When  first  we  stated  in  our  Decrees  the  nature  of  the 
treasonable  conspiracy  that  K'ang  Yu-wei  had  organised  and 
of  his  revolutionary  programme,  it  was  our  object  to  nip 
rebellion  in  the  bud.  But  it  would  appear,  from  information 
which  has  reached  us,  that  certain  misinformed  people  still 
hold  to  the  opinion  and  express  it,  that  K'ang  Yu-wei  was 
nothing  worse  than  an  over-zealous  reformer.  We  mention 
therefore  this  matter  of  the  correspondence  of  these  traitors, 
as  proving  beyond  possibility  of  doubt  that  K'ang  Yu-wei 
was  indeed  a  base  and  unnatural  malefactor,  and  we  feel 
convinced  that  our  loyal  subjects,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
realising  this  truth,  will  now  relegate  his  revolutionary  utter- 
ances to  their  proper  position  of  insignificance.  Thus  shall 
right  principles  triumph  and  the  wrong  be  wiped  out." 

Thus  was  Tzu  Hsi  established  in  her  pride  of  place  and 
thus  were  sown  the  seeds  of  that  great  upheaval  which  was 
soon  to  shake  the  Empire  to  its  foundations. 


XIV 

THE   DIARY   OF   HIS   EXCELLENCY  CHING   SHAN 

[Note. — Ching  Shan,  a  Manchu  of  the  Plain  Yellow  Banner  Corps, 
was  born  in  1823.  In  1863  he  became  a  Metropolitan  Graduate  and 
Han-lin  Compiler,  especially  distinguished  as  a  scholar  in  Sung  philoso- 
phy. In  the  following  year  he  was  appointed  a  Junior  Secretary  of  the 
Imperial  Household  (Nei  wu  fu),  rising  to  Senior  Secretary  in  1869 
and  Controller  in  1879.  His  father,  Kuang  Shun,  had  held  the  post  of 
Comptroller-General  under  the  Emperor  Tao-Kuang,  with  whom  he  was 
for  years  on  terms  of  intimacy  ;  he  was  a  kinsman  of  the  Empress 
Dowager's  family  and  in  close  touch  with  all  the  leading  Manchu  nobles. 
Ching  Shan  had  therefore  exceptional  opportunities  of  knowing  all  the 
gossip  of  the  Court,  of  learning  the  opinions  and  watching  the  move- 
ments of  the  high  officials,  Chinese  and  Manchu,  who  stood  nearest  to 
the  Throne.  After  holding  office  in  several  of  the  Metropolitan  Boards, 
he  retired  in  1894.  He  was  tutor  to  Prince  Tuan,  Duke  Tsai  Lan,  and 
other  sons  of  Prince  Tun  (younger  son  of  the  Emperor  Tao-Kuang),  and 
therefore  intimately  associated  with  the  leaders  of  the  Boxer  movement. 

Seen  even  against  the  lurid  background  of  the  abomination  of  desola- 
tion which  overtook  Peking  in  1900,  Ching  Shan's  fate  was  unusually 
tragic.  Above  the  storm  and  stress  of  battle  and  sudden  death,  of 
dangers  from  Boxers,  wild  Kansuh  soldiery  and  barbarian  invaders,  the 
old  scholar's  domestic  griefs,  the  quarrels  of  his  women-folk,  his  son's 
unfilial  behaviour,  strike  a  more  poignant  note  than  any  of  his  country's 
fast  pressing  misfortunes.  And  with  good  cause.  On  the  15th  August, 
after  the  entry  of  the  allied  forces  into  Peking  and  the  flight  of  the 
Empress  Dowager,  his  wife,  his  senior  concubine,  and  one  of  his 
daughters-in-law  committed  suicide.  He  survived  them  but  a  few  hours, 
meeting  death  at  the  hands  of  his  eldest  son.  En  Ch'un,  who  pushed 
him  down  a  well  in  his  own  courtyard.  This  son  was  subsequently  shot 
by  British  troops  for  harbouring  armed  Boxers. 

The  Diary  was  found  by  the  translator  in  the  private  study  of  Ching 
Shan's  house  on  August  i8th  and  saved,  in  the  nick  of  time,  from  being 
burnt  by  a  party  of  Sikhs.  Many  of  the  entries,  which  cover  the  period 
from  January  to  August  1900,  refer  to  trivial  and  uninteresting  matters. 
The  following  passages  are  selected  chiefly  because  of  the  light  they  throw 
on  the  part  played  by  the  Empress  Dowager  in  that  tragedy  of  midsummer 
madness— on  the  strong  hand  and  statecraft  of  the  woman,  and  on  the 
unfathomable  ignorance  which  characterises  to-day  the  degenerate  descen- 
dants of  Nurhachi.  It  should  be  explained  that  Ching  Shan  (©  w)' 
who  retired  from  office  in  1894,  must  be  distinguished  from  Chmg  Hsin 
(^r  ^),  who  died  about  1904.  The  latter  was  also  a  Manchu  and  a 
favourite  of  Tzu  Hsi,  well  known  to  foreigners  at  the  capital.  He  held 
various  high  posts,  rose  to  be  a  Grand  Secretary,  and  remained  in  Peking 
after  the  flight  of  the  Court,  in  charge  of  the  palace.     It  was  he  who 

166 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN      167 

escorted  the  Diplomatic  Body  through  the  deserted  halls  of  the  Forbidden 
City  in  September  1900.  He  was  highly  respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 
Ching  Shan,  though  of  similarly  high  rank,  was  personally  quite 
unknown  to  foreigners,  but  a  short  note  on  his  career  (and  another  on 
that  of  Ching  Hsin)  will  be  found  in  the  "  List  of  the  Higher  Metropolitan 
and  Provincial  Officials  "  periodically  compiled  by  the  Chinese  Secretariat 
of  the  British  Legation  ;  Edition  of  1902,  Kelly  and  Walsh,  Shanghai.] 

2^th  Year  of  Kuang  Hsii,  12th  Moon,  2^th  Day  (25th 
January,  1900). — Duke  Tsai  Lan  came  to  see  me,  his  old 
tutor,  to-day.  He  has  much  to  tell  me  concerning  the 
"Patriotic  Harmony  "  train-bands  (I  Ho  T'uan)  which  have 
been  raised  in  Shantung  by  Yii  Hsien,  the  Governor. 
Later,  he  described  yesterday's  audience  at  the  palace ;  in 
addition  to  the  Grand  Secretaries,  the  Presidents  of  Boards 
and  the  Ministers  of  the  Household,  the  "Sacred  Mother" 
received  Prince  Kung,  his  uncles  Tsai  Ying  and  Tsai  Lien 
and  Prince  Tuan.  The  Old  Buddha  announced  her  inten- 
tion of  selecting  a  new  Emperor.  She  said  :  "The  nation 
has  shown  resentment  and  reproached  me  for  putting 
Kuang  Hsii  on  the  Throne,  he  being  of  the  wrong  genera- 
tion ;  furthermore,  he  himself  has  shown  great  lack  of  filial 
duty  to  me  notwithstanding  the  debt  of  gratitude  he  owed 
me  for  my  kindness  in  thus  elevating  him.  Has  he  not 
plotted  against  me  with  traitors  from  the  south  ?  I  now 
propose  therefore  to  depose  him  and  to  place  a  new  Em- 
peror on  the  Throne,  whose  accession  shall  take  place  on 
the  first  day  of  the  New  Year.  It  should  be  for  you 
Ministers  now  to  consider  what  title  should  be  given  to 
Kuang  Hsii  upon  his  abdication.  There  is  a  precedent 
for  his  removal  from  the  Throne  in  the  case  of  the  Emperor 
Ching  T'ai  of  the  Ming  Dynasty  who  was  reduced  to  the 
rank  of  Prince  and  whose  brother  was  restored  to  the 
Throne  after  twelve  months  of  captivity  among  the  Mon- 
gols." There  was  dead  silence  for  some  time  in  the  Hall  of 
Audience.  At  last  the  Grand  Secretary  Hsii  T'ung  sug- 
gested as  appropriate  the  title  of  "  Hun-te-Kung,"  which 
means,  "The  Duke  of  Confused  Virtue" — or  well-meaning 
bungler  : — it  had  been  given  by  the  Mongol  Dynasty  to  a 
deposed  Sung  Emperor.  The  Old  Buddha  approved.  She 
then  declared  to  the  assembly  that  her  choice  of  the  new 


\ 


i68    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Emperor  was  already  made;  it  had  fallen  upon  the  eldest 
son  of  Prince  Tuan,  whose  great  devotion  to  Her  Majesty's 
person  was  well  known.  Henceforward  Prince  Tuan 
should  be  in  constant  attendance  at  the  Palace  to  supervise 
the  education  of  his  son.  At  this  point  the  Grand  Secretary 
Sun  Chia-nai  craved  permission  to  speak.  He  implored 
the  Empress  not  to  depose  the  Emperor;  of  a  certainty 
there  would  be  rebellion  in  the  Southern  provinces.  The 
choice  of  a  new  Sovereign  rested  with  her,  but  it  could 
only  be  done  after  "ten  thousand  years  had  elapsed"  (i.  e. 
after  the  death  of  the  present  Emperor).  The  "Motherly 
Countenance  "  showed  great  wrath ;  turning  on  Sun  Chia- 
nai,  she  bade  him  remember  that  this  was  a  family  council 
to  which  she  only  admitted  Chinese  as  an  act  of  grace. 
She  had  already  notified  the  Emperor  of  her  intention, 
and  he  had  no  objections  to  offer.  The  Empress  then 
ordered  all  present  to  repair  to  the  Hall  of  Diligent  Govern- 
ment there  to  await  her  and  the  Emperor,  and  upon  their 
coming  to  witness  the  draft  of  the  Decree  appointing  the 
Heir  Apparent.  The  formal  announcement  of  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne  would  be  postponed  until  the  first  day 
of  the  New  Year. 

They  proceeded  therefore  to  the  entrance  of  the  appointed 
Hall,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  Empress's  chair  appeared 
at  the  gateway,  when  all  knelt  and  "ko-towed"  three  times. 
A  number  of  eunuchs  accompanied  her,  but  she  bade  them 
remain  without.  She  sent  Major-domo  Li  Lien-ying  to 
request  the  Emperor's  presence;  he  came  in  his  chair, 
alighting  at  the  outer  gate,  and  "ko-towed  "  to  the  Empress, 
who  had  taken  her  seat  on  the  main  throne  within.  She 
beckoned  him  to  come  to  the  Hall,  and  he  knelt  again,  all 
officials  still  kneeling  outside.  Chin  lai,  pu  yung  kuei 
hsia  ("Come  in,  you  need  not  kneel "),  called  Her  Majesty. 
She  bade  him  sit  down,  and  summoned  next  the  Princes 
and  Ministers — some  thirty  in  all — to  enter.  Again  the  Old 
Buddha  repeated  her  reasons  for  the  step  she  was  taking. 
The  Emperor  only  said  :  "What  Your  Majesty  suggests  is 
quite  proper  and  in  accordance  with  my  views."  At  this 
the  Grand  Secretary  Jung  Lu  handed  to  the  Empress  the 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN      169 

Decree  which  the  Grand  Council  had  drafted.^  She  read 
it  through  and  forthwith  ordered  its  promulgation.  No- 
thing was  said  to  "The  Lord  of  Ten  Thousand  Years"  as 
to  his  being  deposed ;  only  the  selection  of  the  Heir  Appar- 
ent was  discussed.  The  Grand  Council  then  remained  for 
further  audience,  but  the  Princes  were  ordered  to  withdraw, 
so  that  Duke  Lan  does  not  know  what  passed  thereafter. 
The  Emperor  seemed  dazed,  as  one  in  a  dream. 

SOth  Day  (30th  January,  1900). — To-day  Liu  Shun 
shaved  my  head;  he  leaves  to-night  for  his  home  at  Pao- 
ti-hsien  there  to  spend  the  new  year.  My  eldest  son.  En 
Ch'un,  is  pressing  me  to  give  him  fifty  taels  to  buy  an 
ermine  cloak;  he  is  a  bad  son  and  most  undutiful.  Chi 
Shou-ch*ing  came  to  see  me  to-day,  he  has  moved  to  **  Kuai 
Pang "  Lane.  He  tells  me  that  his  father-in-law,  Yii 
Hsien,  is  to  be  made  Governor  of  Shansi.  The  Old 
Buddha  has  received  him  in  audience  since  his  removal 
from  the  Governorship  of  Shantung  on  account  of  the  murder 
of  a  French  ^  missionary,  and  praised  him  for  the  honesty 
and  justice  of  his  administration.  She  does  not  approve 
of  the  Big  Sword  Society's  proposed  extermination  of 
foreigners,  because  she  does  not  believe  they  can  do  it; 
Yii  Hsien  goes  often  to  Prince  Tuan's  palace,  and  they 
have  many  secret  interviews.  Prince  Tuan  declares  that  if 
he  were  made  President  of  the  Tsung-li  Yamen  he  would 
make  short  work  of  all  difficulties  with  foreigners.  He  is 
a  violent  man  and  lacking  in  refinement. 

I  St  Day  of  26th  Year  of  Kuang  Hsu  (31st  January, 
1900). — To-day  I  am  78  years  of  age  and  my  children  mock 
me  for  being  deaf.  They  are  bad  sons  and  will  never  rise 
so  high  as  their  father  has  done.  When  I  was  their  age, 
between  20  and  30,  the  Emperor  Tao-Kuang  had  already 
praised  my  scholarship  and  presented  me  with  a  compli- 
mentary scroll  bearing  a  quotation  from  the  writings  of 
the  philosopher  Chu. 

This  year  will  witness  many  strange  events;  the  people 

^  The  Decree  is  given  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

^  The  victim  was  British,  not  French— viz.  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brooks,  killed 
on  December  31,  1899,  just  after  YU  Hsien's  removal  had  been  arranged, 


170    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

all  say  so.  The  eighth  month  is  intercalary  which,  in  a 
year  that  has  "  Keng  "  for  its  cyclical  character,  has  ever 
been  an  evil  omen.  The  New  Emperor  was  to  have  been 
proclaimed  to-day  under  the  title  of  *'  Heng-Ching  " — **  All- 
pervading  Prosperity  " — but  my  son  En  Lin  tells  me  that 
the  new  year  sacrifices  were  performed  by  the  Ta  Age 
(Heir  Apparent)  at  the  Palace  of  Imperial  Longevity,  act- 
ing only  as  Deputy  for  the  Emperor  Kuang  Hsii.  The 
Ta  Age  is  a  boy  of  fourteen ;  very  intelligent,  but  violent- 
tempered.  He  walked  on  foot  to  the  Palace  Hall  from  the 
Coal  Hill  Gate. 

^th  Moon,  ^th  Day:  The  Dragon  Festival  (ist  June, 
1900).^ — Arose  at  six  o'clock  and  was  washing  my  face  in 
the  small  inner  room,  when  Huo  Kuei,  the  gatekeeper,  came 
in  with  the  card  of  Kang  Yi,  the  Grand  Secretary,  and  a 
present  of  ten  pounds  of  pork,  with  seasonable  greetings. 
I  was  not  aware  that  he  had  already  returned  from  his 
journey  to  Cho  Chou,  whither  he  had  gone  with  Chao 
Shu-ch'iao  to  examine  and  report  on  the  doings  of  the 
"patriotic  train-bands"  (i.  e.  Boxers).  He  sends  word  by 
the  messenger  that  he  will  call  upon  me  this  morning. 

M/y  sons  En  Lin  and  En  Ch'un  are  going  to-day  to  a 
theatrical  performance  at  Chi  Shou-ch'eng's  residence. 
My  youngest  son.  En  Ming,  is  on  duty  at  the  Summer 
Palace,  where,  for  the  next  four  days,  the  Old  Buddha  will 
be  having  theatricals.  I  am  surprised  that  Kang  Yi  is  not 
out  there  also.  No  doubt  he  only  returned  to  Peking  last 
night,  and  so  does  not  resume  his  place  on  the  Council  till 
to-morrow  morning. 

The  Hour  of  the  Monkey  (3  p.m.). — Kang  Yi  has  been 
here  and  I  persuaded  him  to  stay  for  the  mid-day  meal. 
He  is  a  worthy  brother-in-law,  and,  though  twenty  years 
younger  than  I  am,  as  wise  and  discreet  a  man  as  any  on 
the  Grand  Council.  He  tells  me  that  several  hundred 
foreign  devil  troops  entered  the  City  yesterday  evening. 
He  and  Chao  Shu-ch'iao  arrived  at  Peking  at  4.30  p.m., 
and  immediately  set  to  composing  their  memorial  to  the 

^  Between  January  and  June  the  entries  are  of  no  particular  interest. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN     171 

Empress  Dowager  about  the  heaven-sent  Boxers,  for  pre- 
sentation to-morrow  morning.  Prince  Tuan  has  five  days' 
leave  of  absence :  Kang  Yi  went  to  see  him  yesterday 
evening.  While  they  were  discussing  the  situation,  at  the 
Prince's  own  house,  there  came  a  Captain  of  Prince 
Ch'ing's  bodyguard  with  a  message.  Saluting  Prince 
Tuan,  he  announced  that  about  300  foreign  soldiers  had 
left  Tientsin  in  the  afternoon  as  reinforcement  for  the 
Legation  Guards.  Prince  Ch'ing  implored  Prince  Tuan 
not  to  oppose  their  entry,  on  the  ground  that  a  few  hundred 
foreigners,  more  or  less,  could  make  no  difference.  He 
trusted  that  Prince  Tuan  would  give  orders  to  his  Corps 
(the  "Celestial  Tigers"  Force)  not  to  oppose  the  foreign 
devils.  It  was  the  wish  of  the  Old  Buddha  that  they 
should  be  permitted  to  guard  the  Legations.  Prince  Tuan 
asked  for  further  details,  and  the  Captain  said  that  Prince 
Ch'ing  had  received  a  telegram  from  the  Governor-General 
of  Chihli  (Yii  Lu)  to  the  effect  that  the  detachment  carried 
no  guns.  At  this  Prince  Tuan  laughed  scornfully  and 
said  :  "  How  can  the  few  resist  the  many  ?  What  indeed  will 
a  hundred  puny  hobgoblins,  more  or  less,  matter  ?  "  Kang 
Yi,  on  the  contrary,  tells  me  that  he  strongly  urged  Prince 
Tuan  to  issue  orders  to  Chung  Li,  the  Commandant  of  the 
city,  to  oppose  the  entry  of  the  foreign  troops,  but  it 
appears  that  Jung  Lu  had  already  ordered  their  admission. 
Kang  Yi  is  much  incensed  with  Jung  Lu  about  this,  and 
cannot  understand  his  motives.  It  seems  that  towards  the 
close  of  last  year  Prince  Tuan  and  Jung  Lu  had  agreed  to 
depose  the  Emperor  and  to  put  the  Heir  Apparent  on  the 
Throne,  and  Tuan  confesses  that,  were  it  not  for  Jung  Lu's 
great  influence  with  the  Old  Buddha  she  would  never  have 
agreed  to  select  his  son  as  Heir  Apparent.  But  now  Jung 
Lu  is  for  ever  denouncing  the  Boxers  and  warning  the 
Empress  against  encouraging  and  countenancing  them. 
Prince  Tuan  and  Kang  Yi  despair  of  ever  being  able  to 
induce  her  to  support  the  Boxers  whole-heartedly  so  long 
as  Jung  Lu  is  against  them.  As  an  example  of  her  present 
attitude.  Prince  Tuan  told  Kang  Yi  one  day  lately  that  his 
son,  the  Ta  Age,  had  dressed  himself  up  as  a  Boxer  and 


172    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

was  going  through  their  drill  in  the  Summer  Palace 
grounds  with  some  eunuchs.  The  Old  Buddha  saw  him 
and  promptly  gave  orders  that  he  be  confined  to  his 
rooms.  She  also  reprimanded  the  Grand  Secretary,  Hsii 
T'ung,  for  not  keeping  a  better  watch  on  his  pupil  and  for 
permitting  such  unseemly  behaviour,  as  she  called  it. 

After  leaving  Prince  Tuan's  house,  Kang  Yi  had  gone 
out  of  the  city  by  the  Ch'ien  Men  and  had  seen  the  foreign 
troops  pass  in.    The  people  muttered  curses,  he  says,  but 
no  one  molested  them.     What  does  it  matter?     None  of 
them  will  ever  leave  the  city.     Kang  Yi's  journey  to  Cho 
Chou  has  convinced  him  that  the  whole  province  stands 
together  as  one  man ;  even  boys  in  their  teens  are  drilling. 
Not  a  doubt  of  it;  the  foreigner  will  be  wiped  out  this 
time !     At  Cho  Chou  the  Departmental  Magistrate,  a  man 
named    Kung,    had   arrested   several    Boxer   leaders,   but 
Kang  Yi  and  Chao  Shu-ch'iao  ordered  them  to  be  released 
and  made  them  go  through  their  mystic  evolutions  and 
drill.     It  was  a  wonderful  sight,  scarcely  to  be  believed; 
several  of  them  were  shot,  some  more  than  once,  yet  rose 
uninjured  from  the  ground.     This  exhibition  took  place 
in  the  main  courtyard  of  the  Magistrate's  Yam^n,  in  the 
presence  of  an  enormous  crowd,  tight  pressed,  as  compact 
as  a  wall.    Chao  Shu-ch'iao  remembers  having  seen  many 
years  ago,  in  his  native  province  of  Shensi,  a  similar  per- 
formance, and  it  is  on  record  that  similar  marvels  were  seen 
at  the  close  of  the  Han  Dynasty,  when  Chang  Chio  headed 
the  Yellow  Turban  insurrection  against  the  Government 
and  took  many  great  cities  with  half  a  million  of  followers. 
They  were  said  to  be  under  the  protection   of  the  Jade 
Emperor  ^  and  quite  impervious  to  sword-thrusts.     Kang 
Yi  and  Chao  Shu-ch'iao  will   memorialise   the   Empress 
to-morrow,  giving  the  results  of  their  journey  and  begging 
her  to  recognise  the  "  patriotic  train-bands  "  as  a  branch  of 
the  army.     But  they  should  be  placed  under  the  supreme 
command  of  Prince  Tuan  and  Kang  Yi,  as  Jung  Lu,  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Northern  army,  is  so  incredu- 
lous as  to  their  efficacy  against  foreign  troops. 
1  The  Supreme  Deity  of  the  Taoists  and  tutelary  spirit  of  the  Boxers. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    173 

Although  Major-domo  Li  Lien-ying  is  a  warm  sup- 
porter of  the  Boxers,  and  never  wearies  of  describing  their 
feats  to  the  Old  Buddha,  feats  which  he  himself  has  wit- 
nessed, it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  "kindly  Mother  " 
will  heed  him  so  long  as  Jung  Lu  is  opposed  to  any  official 
encouragement  of  the  movement.  And,  besides,  the  nature 
of  the  Empress  is  peace-loving ;  she  has  seen  many  springs 
and  autumns.  I  myself  know  well  her  refined  and  gentle 
tastes,  her  love  of  painting,  poetry,  and  the  theatre.  When 
in  a  good  mood  she  is  the  most  amiable  and  tractable  of 
women,  but  at  times  her  rage  is  awful  to  witness.  My 
father  was  Comptroller-General  of  the  Imperial  House- 
hold, and  it  was  his  lot  on  one  occasion  to  experience  her 
anger.  This  was  in  the  sixth  year  of  T'ung  Chih  (1868), 
when  she  learned  that  the  chief  eunuch,  "Hsiao  An'rh,"  ^ 
had  been  decapitated  in  Shantung  by  the  orders  of  the 
Co-Regent,  the  late  "  Empress  Dowager  of  the  East."  She 
accused  the  Comptrollers  of  the  Household  of  being- 
leagued  together  in  treachery  against  her ;  as  they  had  not 
told  her  of  what  was  going  on  she  declared  that  Prince 
Kung  was  plotting  against  her  life,  and  that  all  her  attend- 
ants were  associated  in  his  treason.  It  was  years  before 
she  forgave  him.  All  An*s  fellow-eunuchs  were  examined 
under  torture  by  the  Department  responsible  for  the 
management  and  discipline  of  the  Household.  When  the 
chief  eunuch *s  betrayer  was  discovered  by  this  means,  he 
was  flogged  to  death  by  her  orders  in  the  Palace.  But 
nowadays  the  Old  Buddha's  heart  has  softened,  even  to- 
wards foreigners,  and  she  will  not  allow  any  of  them  to  be 
done  away  with.  One  word  from  her  would  be  sufficient 
to  bring  about  their  immediate  and  complete  destruction, 
so  that  neither  dog  nor  fowl  be  left  alive,  and  no  trace  be 
left  of  all  their  foreign  buildings.  Kang  Yi  stayed  with 
me  about  two  hours  and  left  to  go  and  see  Prince  Tuan, 
who  was  expecting  Major-domo  Li  Lien-ying  to  come  into 
the  city  this  afternoon. 

K'un   Hsiu,    Vice-President  of   the   Board   of   Works, 
called  to  see  me.    He  tells  me  that  Prince  Ch'ing  habitually 
^  A  nickname  of  An  Te-hai,  vide  suprcu,  pp.  55  et  seq. 


174    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

ridicules  the  Boxers  in  private  conversation,  declaring 
them  to  be  utterly  useless,  and  unworthy  of  even  a  smile 
from  a  wise  man.  In  public,  however,  he  is  most  cautious  : 
last  week  when  the  Old  Buddha  asked  his  opinion  of 
them  he  replied  by  vaguely  referring  to  the  possible  value 
of  train-bands  for  protection  of  the  Empire. 

9  P.M. — My  son  En  Ch'un  has  returned  from  Chi  Shou- 
ch'eng's  theatricals;  everyone  was  talking,  he  says,  of 
Jung  Lu's  folly  in  allowing  the  foreign  troops  to  enter 
the  city  yesterday.  Chi's  father-in-law,  Yii  Hsien,  has 
written  to  him  from  Shansi  saying  that  for  the  present 
there  are  but  few  Boxers  enrolled  in  that  province,  but  he 
is  doing  his  best  to  further  the  movement,  so  that  Shansi 
may  unite  with  the  other  provinces  of  the  north  "to  destroy 
those  who  have  aroused  the  Emperor's  wrath."  By  com- 
mon report,  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  has  now  become  a  convert  to 
Christianity  :  if  he  too  were  to  suppress  the  movement  in 
Shantung,  not  death  itself  could  expiate  his  guilt. 

En  Ch'un's  wife  is  most  undutiful ;  this  evening  she  has 
had  a  quarrel  with  my  senior  concubine,  and  the  two 
women  almost  came  to  blows.  Women  are  indeed  difficult 
to  manage;  as  Confucius  has  said,  "Keep  them  at  a  dis- 
tance, they  resent  it ;  treat  them  familiarly,  and  they  do  not 
respect  you."  I  am  seventy-eight  years  of  age  and  sore 
troubled  by  my  family;  their  conduct  is  hard  for  an  old 
man  to  bear. 

i2th  Day  of  the  ^th  Moon  (June  8th,  1900). — My  son. 
En  Ming,  came  in  this  morning  about  midday;  as  Officer 
of  the  Bodyguard  he  had  been  in  attendance  on  the  Em- 
press coming  in  from  the  Summer  Palace.  Jung  Lu  had 
been  there  yesterday  morning  and  had  had  a  long  audience 
with  Her  Majesty.  He  gave  her  details  of  the  burning  of 
the  railway  by  the  Boxers.  She  was  seriously  alarmed 
and  decided  to  return  at  once  to  the  Winter  Palace  on  the 
Southern  Lake.  It  seems  she  cannot  make  up  her  mind 
as  to  the  Boxers'  invulnerability.  Jung  Lu  has  again 
applied  for  leave.  When  he  is  absent  from  the  Grand 
Council,  Kang  Yi  and  Ch'i  Hsiu  have  the  greatest  in- 
fluence with  her.     En  Ming  says  that  on  the  way  to  the 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    175 

city  she  kept  urging  the  chair-bearers  to  hurry,  and  seemed 
out  of  sorts — nervously  fanning  herself  all  the  time.  At 
the  Ying  Hsiu  gate  of  the  Winter  Palace  the  Emperor  and 
the  Heir  Apparent  were  kneeling  to  receive  her.  No 
sooner  had  she  reached  the  palace  than  she  summoned 
Prince  Tuan  to  audience,  which  lasted  a  long  time.  It  is 
a  pity  that  the  Old  Buddha  will  not  decide  and  act  more 
promptly.  The  Emperor  never  speaks  at  audience  nowa- 
days,, although  Her  Majesty  often  asks  him  for  his  opinion. 
Tung  Fu-hsiang  accompanied  the  Court  into  Peking; 
he  denounced  Jung  Lu  at  audience  to-day,  telling  the 
Empress  that  if  only  the  Legations  were  attacked,  he  would 
undertake  to  demolish  them  in  five  days ;  but  that  Jung  Lu, 
by  failing  to  support  the  Boxers,  was  a  traitor  to  the 
Dynasty.  The  Empire,  said  he,  would  be  endangered 
unless  the  present  opportunity  were  seized  to  wipe  off  old 
scores  against  the  foreigner.  Tung  is  a  coarse,  foul-spoken 
fellow,  most  violent  in  his  manner  towards  us  Manchus. 
Kang  Yi  hates  him,  but  for  the  present  is  only  too  willing 
to  make  use  of  him. 

i^th  Day  of  the  ^th  Moon  (June  loth). — Grand  Councillor 
Ch'i  Hsiu  called  to-day — he  showed  me  the  draft  of  a 
Decree  breaking  off  all  relations  with  foreigners,  which 
he  had  prepared  for  the  Empress's  signature ;  so  far,  how- 
ever, she  has  given  no  indication  of  agreeing  to  make  war 
against  them.  In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  Duke  Lan*s 
residence — to-day  being  his  wife's  birthday.  There  are 
more  than  a  hundred  Boxers  living  in  his  outer  courtyard, 
most  of  them  country-folk,  under  the  command  of  a 
Banner  Captain  named  Wen  Shun.  Among  them  are  five 
or  six  lads  of  thirteen  or  fourteen  who  will  fall  into  a 
trance,  foam  at  the  mouth,  then  rise  up  and  grasp  wildly 
at  anything  that  comes  within  their  reach,  uttering  the 
while  strange  uncouth  noises.  Duke  Lan  believes  that  by 
their  magic  arts  they  will  be  able  to  guide  him,  when  the 
time  comes,  to  the  houses  of  Christian  converts  (lit. 
Secondary  Devils).  He  says  that  his  wife  goes  often  to 
the  Palace  and  that  she  has  told  the  Old  Buddha  of  these 
things.     The   "Ta    Kung  Chu "  (Princess   Imperial  and 


176    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

adopted  daughter  of  the  Empress  Dowager)  has  over  two 
hundred  and  fifty  Boxers  quartered  at  the  palace  outside 
the  Hou  Men,  but  she  has  not  dared  to  tell  the  Empress 
Dowager.  Her  brother,  Tsai  Ying,  is  also  learning  this 
drill.  Truly  it  is  a  splendid  society  !  The  Kansuh  braves 
are  now  entering  the  Chinese  city,  and  thousands  of  people 
are  preparing  to  leave  Peking. 

16th  Day  of  the  ^th  Moon  (June  12th). — Jung  Lu  attended 
the  Grand  Council  this  morning.  Prince  Li,  the  Senior 
Councillor,  did  not  dare  to  tell  the  Empress  that  a  foreign 
devil  ^  had  been  killed  yesterday  by  the  Kansuh  braves 
just  outside  the  Yung-Ting  Gate.  Jung  Lu  was  called  to 
the  audience  chamber  after  Prince  Li  had  retired,  and  Kang 
Yi  believes  that  he  urged  her  to  order  Tung  Fu-hsiang  to 
leave  the  city  with  his  troops  and  at  the  same  time  to  issue 
an  Edict,  bestowing  posthumous  honours  on  the  murdered 
foreigner.  None  of  the  other  Grand  Councillors  were 
summoned  to  audience;  when  Jung  Lu  left  the  presence, 
he  returned  straightway  to  his  own  house  and  spake  no 
word  to  any  of  his  colleagues.  It  is  rumoured  that  more 
foreign  troops  are  coming  to  Peking,  and  that  the  Empress 
Dowager  will  not  permit  them  to  enter  the  city.  In  this 
Jung  Lu  agrees  with  her.  He  has  advised  that  all 
foreigners  shall  be  allowed  to  leave  Peking,  but  that  it  is 
contrary  to  the  law  of  nations  to  attack  the  accredited 
representatives  of  foreign  Powers. 

i8th  Day  of  the  $th  Moon  (June  14th). — Yesterday,  just 
before  nightfall.  En  Ch*un  came  in  to  tell  me  that  several 
hundred  Boxers  had  entered  the  Ha-Ta  Gate.  I  was  sorry 
that  my  lameness  prevented  me  from  going  out  to  see 
them,  but  I  sent  Hao  Ching-ting  to  report.  Well,  indeed, 
is  it  that  I  have  lived  to  see  this  day ;  almost  every  foreign 
building  except  the  Legations  had  been  burnt  to  the 
ground.  Throughout  the  night  flames  burst  forth  in  every 
quarter  of  the  city ;  a  grand  sight !  Kang  Yi  has  sent  me 
a  message  to  say  that  he  and  Duke  Lan  went  to  the  Shun 
Chih  (S.W.)  Gate  at  about  the  third  watch  to  encourage 

^  The  Chancellor  of  the  Japanese  Legation,  Mr.  Sugiyama. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    177 

and  direct  the  Boxers  who  were  burning  the  French 
Church.  Hundreds  of  converts  were  burnt  to  death,  men, 
women  and  children,  and  so  great  was  the  stench  of  burn- 
ing flesh  that  Duke  Lan  and  Kang  Yi  were  compelled  to 
hold  their  noses.  At  dawn  Kang  Yi  went  to  the  Palace  to 
attend  the  Grand  Council.  Major-domo  Li  Lien-ying  told 
him  that  the  Old  Buddha  had  watched  the  conflagrations 
from  the  hillock  to  the  west  of  the  Southern  Lake,  and  had 
plainly  seen  the  destruction  of  the  French  Church  at  the 
Shun-Chih  Men.  Li  Lien-ying  had  told  her  that  the 
foreigners  had  first  fired  on  the  crowd  inside  the  Ha-Ta 
Gate,  and  that  this  had  enraged  the  patriotic  braves  who 
had  retaliated  by  slaughtering  the  converts.  It  seems  that 
Hsii  T'ung  is  unable  to  get  out  of  his  house  because  the 
foreign  devils  have  barricaded  the  street ;  the  Old  Buddha 
is  anxious  about  him  and  has  commanded  Prince  Ch'ing 
to  ask  the  foreign  Legations  to  let  him  pass  out.  She  is 
amazed  at  the  Boxers'  courage,  and  Kang  Yi  believes  that 
she  is  about  to  give  her  consent  to  a  general  attack  upon 
the  Legations.  Nevertheless,  Li  Lien-ying  has  warned  him 
that  exaggerated  praise  of  the  Boxers  arouses  her  sus- 
picions, and  that,  with  the  exception  of  Jung  Lu,  all  the 
Grand  Councillors  are  afraid  to  advise  her.  Her  Majesty 
is  moving  into  the  Palace  of  Peaceful  Longevity  in  the 
Forbidden  City,  as  all  these  alarms  and  excursions  disturb 
her  sleep  at  the  Lake  Palace. 

2ist  Day  of  the  ^th  Moon  (June  17th). — A  great  fire  has 
been  raging  all  to-day  in  the  southern  city.  Those  reck- 
less Boxers  set  fire  to  a  foreign  medicine  store  in  the  Ta 
Shalan'rh,  and  from  this  the  flames  spread  rapidly,  destroy- 
ing the  shops  of  the  wealthy  goldsmiths  and  assayers. 
Rightly  says  the  Canon  of  History :  "When  fire  rages  on 
the  Kun  Lun  ridge,  common  pebble  and  precious  jade  will 
be  consumed  together."  The  Boxers  themselves  are  worthy 
men,  but  there  are  among  them  many  evil-doers  whose 
only  desire  is  plunder;  these  men,  wearing  the  Boxer 
uniform,  bring  discredit  upon  the  real  "patriotic  braves." 
The  outer  tower  of  the  Ch'ien  Men  having  caught  fire,  the 
Empress  ordered  Jung  Lu  to  send  Banner  troops  on  to  the 


178    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

wall  so  as  to  prevent  any  ruffians  entering  the  Tartar  City 
by  the  Ta  Ch'ing  Gate. 

In  the  afternoon  my  married  niece  came  over  to  see  her 
aunt :  she  has  been  greatly  alarmed  by  the  uproar  and 
fighting  near  her  home,  so  they  are  moving  to  her  father- 
in-law's  house  in  the  northern  city. 

I  hear  that  Prince  Tuan  has  now  persuaded  the  Old 
Buddha  to  appoint  him  President  of  the  Tsung-li  Yamen ; 
also  that  she  has  authorised  him  to  require  all  foreigners  to 
leave  Peking,  but  they  are  to  be  protected  against  any 
attacks  by  the  Boxers.  My  old  friend,  Ch'i  Hsiu,  has 
been  made  a  Minister  of  the  Tsung-li  Yamen,  also  Na 
T'ung,  the  Sub-Chancellor  of  the  Grand  Secretariat.  The 
latter  memorialised  lately  advising  the  Throne  to  declare 
war  before  the  foreign  Powers  could  send  reinforcements; 
the  Old  Buddha  has  placed  him  in  the  Tsung-li  Yamen 
to  assist  Prince  Tuan  and  Ch'i  Hsiu  in  arranging  for  the 
foreigners'  departure  from  the  city.  Prince  Ch'ing  still 
says  nothing  for  or  against  the  Boxers.  Jung  Lu  has 
offered  to  escort  the  foreign  Ministers  half-way  to  Tientsin, 
but  he  stipulates  that  the  Viceroyalty  of  Chihli  must  be 
taken  from  Yii  Lu.  My  wife  was  taken  seriously  ill  this 
evening;  she  kept  on  muttering  incoherently  and  rolling 
about  on  the  k'ang  as  if  in  great  pain.  We  sent  for 
Dr.  Yung,  who  applied  acupuncture. 

2^th  Day  of  the  ^th  Moon  (June  20th). — Yesterday,  at  mid- 
day, Yii  Lu's  memorial  reached  the  Throne.  He  says  that 
the  foreign  devils  have  actually  demanded  the  surrender  of 
the  Taku  forts,  and  he  begs  the  Empress  Dowager  to  de- 
clare war  on  them  forthwith,  to  make  them  atone  for  their 
insolence  and  treachery.  A  special  meeting  of  the  Grand 
Council  was  immediately  called.  The  Old  Buddha  was 
very  wroth,  but  said  she  would  postpone  her  decision  until 
to-day,  when  all  the  Princes,  Presidents  and  Vice-Presi- 
dents of  the  Boards  and  Ministries,  and  the  Lieutenant- 
Generals  of  Banners,  would  meet  in  special  audience. 
Prince  Tuan,  Ch'i  Hsiu  and  Na  T'ung  showed  her  a 
despatch  from  the  foreign  Ministers  couched  in  most 
insolent  language  demanding  her  immediate  abdication,  the 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY   CHING  SHAN    179 

degradation  of  the  Heir  Apparent,  and  the  restoration  of 
the  Emperor/  The  Ministers  also  asked  that  the  Emperor 
should  allow  10,000  foreign  troops  to  enter  Peking  to 
restore  order.  Kang  Yi  came  to  tell  me  that  never  had  he 
seen  the  Old  Buddha  so  angry,  not  even  when  she  learned 
of  K'ang  Yuwei's  treason.  "How  dare  they  question  my 
authority  ?  "  she  exclaimed.  '*  If  I  can  bear  this,  what  must 
not  be  borne?  The  insults  of  these  foreigners  pass  all 
bounds.  Let  us  exterminate  them  before  we  eat  our 
morning  meal."  ^ 

The  wrath  of  the  Old  Buddha  is  indeed  beyond  control ; 
neither  Jung  Lu  nor  any  other  can  stop  her  now.  She 
has  told  Jung  Lu  that  if  he  wishes,  he  may  still  offer  to 
escort  the  foreign  Ministers  to  Tientsin,  but  she  will  give 
no  guarantee  for  their  safety  on  the  journey  because  of 
their  monstrous  suggestion  that  she  should  abdicate.  She 
does  not  absolutely  desire  their  death,  but  says  that  the 
consideration  she  showed  them  in  allowing  the  Legation 
guards  to  enter  the  city,  and  her  solicitude  in  restraining 
the  Boxers,  have  been  ill-requited.  "It  were  better,"  says 
she,  "to  go  down  in  one  desperate  encounter  than  to 
surrender  our  just  rights  at  the  bidding  of  the  foreigner." 

Though  only  a  woman.  Her  Majesty  Tzu  Hsi  has  all  the 
courage  of  a  man,  and  more  than  the  ordinary  man's 
intelligence. 

2/{th  Day  of  5i/t  Moon:  The  Hour  of  the  Cock,  5-7  p.m. 
(20th  June). — I  have  just  returned  from  visiting  my 
brother-in-law,  the  Grand  Secretary  Kang  Yi ;  he  told  me 
all  about  this  morning's  audience.  At  the  hour  of  the 
Tiger  (3-5  a.m.)  the  Grand  Council  assembled  in  the  Palace 
by  the  Lake,  and  were  received  by  the  Old  Buddha  in  the 
Pavilion  of  the  Ceremonial  Phoenix.  All  were  there. 
Prince  Li,  Jung  Lu,  Kang  Yi,  Wang  Wen-shao,  Ch'i 
Hsiu,  and  Chao  Shu-ch'iao,  but  the  Emperor  was  absent. 
This  was  a  special  audience,  preparatory  to  the  general 
audience  of  all  the  Princes  and  Ministers,  and  its  object 
was  to  give  the  Grand  Council  an  opportunity  of  laying 

^  This  was  a  forgery. 

*  A  quotation  from  the  "  Book  of  Odes." 


i8o    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

before  Her  Majesty  any  new  facts  or  opinions  bearing  upon 
the  situation. 

With  tears  in  his  eyes,  Jung  Lu  knelt  before  Her 
Majesty;  he  confessed  that  the  foreigners  had  only  them- 
selves to  blame  if  China  declared  war  upon  them,  but  he 
urged  her  to  bear  in  mind  that  an  attack  on  the  Legations, 
as  recommended  by  Prince  Tuan  and  the  rest  of  the 
Council,  might  entail  the  ruin  of  the  ancestral  shrines  of 
the  Dynasty,  as  well  as  the  altars  of  the  local  and  tutelary 
Gods.  What  good  purpose,  he  asked,  would  be  served 
by  the  besieging,  nay,  even  by  the  destruction,  of  this 
isolated  handful  of  Europeans  ?  What  lustre  could  it  add 
to  the  Imperial  arms?  Obviously,  it  must  be  waste  of 
energy  and  misdirected  purpose. 

The  Old  Buddha  replied  that  if  these  were  his  views,  he 
had  better  persuade  the  foreigners  to  leave  the  city  before 
the  attack  began ;  she  could  no  longer  restrain  the  patriotic 
movement,  even  if  she  wished.  If  therefore,  he  had  no 
better  advice  than  this  to  offer,  he  might  consider  himself 
excused  from  further  attendance  at  the  Council. 

Jung  Lu  thereupon  "ko-towed"  thrice  and  left  the 
audience  hall  to  return  to  his  own  house.  Upon  his 
departure,  Ch'i  Hsiu  drew  from  his  boot  the  draft  of  the 
Decree  which  was  to  declare  war.  Her  Majesty  read  it  and 
exclaimed  :  "  Admirable,  admirable  !  These  are  exactly 
my  views."  She  asked  each  Grand  Councillor  in  turn  for 
his  opinion,  and  they  declared  unanimously  in  favour  of 
hostilities.  It  was  now  the  hour  appointed  for  the  general 
audience  and  Li  Lien-ying  came  in  to  conduct  Her  Majesty 
to  her  own  apartments  to  take  tea  before  proceeding  to  the 
Hall  of  Diligent  Government. 

All  the  leading  members  of  the  Imperial  Clan  were 
kneeling  at  the  entrance  to  the  Hall,  awaiting  Their 
Majesties*  arrival :  the  Princes  Kung,  Ch'un  and  Tuan ; 
the  "Beilehs"  Tsai  Lien  and  Tsai  Ying;  Duke  Lan  and 
his  brother  the  "Beitzu"  Ying;  Prince  Ch'ing  and  the 
five  Grand  Councillors;  the  Princes  Chuang,  Su  and  Yi; 
the  Presidents,  Chinese  and  Manchu,  of  the  six  Boards 
and  the  nine  Ministries;  the  Lieutenants-General  of  the 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    i8i 

twenty-four  Banner  divisions ;  and  the  Comptrollers  of  the 
Imperial  Household.  Their  Majesties  arrived  together  in 
chairs,  borne  by  four  bearers.  The  Emperor  alighted  first, 
and  knelt  as  the  "benign  Mother"  left  her  palanquin  and 
entered  the  Hall,  supported  by  the  chief  eunuch  Li  Lien- 
ying,  and  by  his  immediate  subordinate,  Ts'ui  Chin.  The 
Emperor  was  ghastly  pale,  and  it  was  observed  that  he 
trembled  as  he  took  his  seat  on  the  Lower  Throne  by  the 
Empress  Dowager's  side. 

The  Old  Buddha  first  called  on  all  present  to  draw  near 
to  the  Throne;  then,  speaking  with  great  vehemence,  she 
declared  that  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  brook  these  latest 
indignities  put  upon  her  by  the  foreigners.  Her  Imperial 
dignity  could  not  suffer  it.  Until  yesterday,  until,  in  fact, 
she  had  read  the  despatch  addressed  to  the  Tsung-li  Yamen 
by  the  Diplomatic  Body,  it  had  been  her  intention  to 
suppress  the  Boxers;  but  in  the  face  of  their  insolent  pro- 
posal that  she  should  hand  over  the  reins  of  government 
to  the  Emperor,  who  had  already  proved  himself  quite 
unfitted  to  rule,  she  had  been  brought  to  the  conclusion 
that  no  peaceful  solution  of  the  situation  was  possible.  The 
insolence  of  the  French  Consul  at  Tientsin  Tu  Shih-lan 
(Du  Chaylard),  in  demanding  the  surrender  of  the  Taku 
Forts  was  bad  enough,  but  not  so  grievous  an  affront  as 
the  Ministers'  preposterous  proposal  to  interfere  with  her 
personal  prerogatives  as  Sovereign.  Her  decision  was  now 
taken,  her  mind  resolved;  not  even  Jung  Lu,  to  whom  she 
had  always  looked  for  wise  counsel,  could  turn  her  from 
this  purpose.  Then,  addressing  more  directly  the  Chinese 
present,  she  bade  them  all  to  remember  that  the  rule  of  her 
Manchu  House  had  conferred  many  and  great  benefits 
upon  the  nation  for  the  past  two  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
and  that  the  Throne  had  always  held  the  balance  fairly  in 
the  benevolent  consideration  for  all  its  subjects,  north  and 
south  alike.  The  Dynasty  had  scrupulously  followed  the 
teachings  of  the  Sages  in  administering  the  government; 
taxation  had  been  lighter  than  under  any  previous  rulers. 
Had  not  the  people  been  relieved,  in  time  of  their  distress, 
by  grants  from  the  Privy  Purse?    In  her  own  reign,  had 


i82    CHINA   UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

not  rebellions  been  suppressed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  earn 
the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  southern  provinces?  It  was 
therefore  now  their  duty  to  rally  to  the  support  of  the 
Throne,  and  to  assist  it  in  putting  an  end,  once  and  for  all, 
to  foreign  aggression*  It  had  lasted  too  long.  If  only  the 
nation  were  of  one  mind,  it  could  not  be  difficult  to  con- 
vince these  barbarians  that  they  had  mistaken  the  leniency 
of  the  past  for  weakness.  That  leniency  had  been  great ; 
in  accordance  with  the  principle  which  prescribes  the  show- 
ing of  kindness  to  strangers  from  afar,  the  Imperial  House 
had  ever  shown  them  the  greatest  consideration.  The 
Emperor  K'ang  Hsi  had  even  allowed  them  liberty  to 
propagate  their  religion,  an  act  of  mistaken  benevolence 
which  had  been  an  increasing  cause  of  regret  to  his  suc- 
cessors. In  matters  of  vital  principle,  she  said,  these 
foreigners  ignore  the  sacred  doctrines  of  the  Sages;  in 
matters  of  detail,  they  insult  the  customs  and  cherished 
beliefs  of  the  Chinese  people.  They  have  trusted  in  the 
strength  of  their  arms,  but  to-day  China  can  rely  upon 
millions  of  her  brave  and  patriotic  volunteers.  Are  not 
even  striplings  taking  up  arms  for  the  defence  of  their 
country?  She  had  always  been  of  the  opinion  that  the 
allied  armies  had  been  permitted  to  escape  too  easily  in  the 
tenth  year  of  Hsien  Feng  (i860),  and  that  only  a  united 
effort  was  then  necessary  to  have  given  China  the  victory. 
To-day,  at  last,  the  opportunity  for  revenge  had  come. 

Turning  to  the  Emperor,  she  asked  for  his  opinion.  His 
Majesty,  after  a  long  pause,  and  with  evident  hesitation, 
urged  her  to  follow  Jung  Lu's  advice,  to  refrain  from 
attacking  the  Legations,  and  to  have  the  foreign  Ministers 
escorted  in  safety  to  the  coast.  But,  he  added,  it  must 
be  for  her  to  decide.  He  could  not  dare  to  assume  any 
responsibility  in  the  matter. 

The  junior  Chinese  Member  of  the  Council,  Chao  Shu- 
ch'iao,  then  spoke.  He  begged  the  Old  Buddha  to  issue 
her  orders  for  the  immediate  extermination  of  every 
foreigner  in  the  interior,  so  as  to  avoid  the  danger  of  spies 
reporting  on  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  patriotic  move- 
ment.    Her   Majesty   commanded   the   Grand  Council   to 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY   CHING  SHAN     183 

consider  this  suggestion  and  to  memorialise  in  due  course 
for  an  Edict. 

After  him,  however,  each  in  his  turn,  the  Manchu  Li- 
shan,  and  the  Chinese  Hsii  Ching-ch*eng  and  Yiian 
Ch*ang  implored  the  Empress  not  to  declare  war  against 
the  whole  world.  China,  they  said,  could  not  possibly 
escape  defeat,  and,  even  if  the  Empire  should  not  be  parti- 
tioned, there  must  arise  great  danger  of  rebellion  and 
anarchy  from  within.  Yiian  Ch'ang  even  went  so  far  as 
to  say  that  he  had  served  as  a  Minister  of  the  Tsung-li 
Yamen  for  two  years  and  that  he  had  found  foreigners  to 
be  generally  reasonable  and  just  in  their  dealings.  He  did 
not  believe  in  the  authenticity  of  the  despatch  demanding 
the  Empress's  abdication,  which  Prince  Tuan  professed  to 
have  received  from  the  Diplomatic  Body;  in  his  opinion, 
it  was  impossible  that  the  Ministers  should  have  dared 
to  suggest  any  such  interference  with  China's  internal 
affairs. 

At  this  Prince  Tuan  arose  and  angrily  asked  the  Em- 
press whether  she  proposed  to  listen  to  the  words  of  a 
Chinese  traitor?  Her  Majesty  rebuked  him  for  his  loud 
and  violent  manner  of  speaking,  but  ordered  Yiian  Ch'ang 
to  leave  the  Audience  Hall.  No  one  else  dared  to  say 
anything. 

She  then  ordered  the  promulgation  of  the  Decree,  for 
immediate  communication  to  all  parts  of  the  Empire;  at 
the  same  time  announcing  her  intention  of  sacrificing  at 
the  ancestral  shrines  before  the  commencement  of  hostilities. 
Prince  Chuang  and  Duke  Lan  were  appointed  joint  Com- 
manders-in-Chief of  the  Boxers,  but  Tzii  Hsi  gave  them 
clearly  to  understand  that  if  the  foreign  Ministers  would 
agree  to  take  their  departure  from  Peking  this  afternoon 
Jung  Lu  was  to  do  his  best  to  protect  them  as  far  as 
Tientsin.  Finally,  the  Empress  ordered  the  Grand  Council 
to  report  themselves  at  mid-day  for  further  orders.  All 
were  then  permitted  to  retire  with  the  exception  of  Prince 
Tuan  and  Duke  Lan ;  these  remained  in  special  audience 
for  some  time  longer.  Hsii  T'ung  was  present  at  the 
general  audience,  having  made  good  his  escape  from  the 


i84     CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Legation  quarter,  and  was  congratulated  by  Her  Majesty 
on  his  safety. 

They  say  that  Duke  Lan  told  the  Empress  of  a  vision  in 
which,  the  night  before,  he  had  seen  Yii  Huang,  the  Jade 
Emperor.  To  him,  and  to  his  company  of  Boxers  while 
drilling,  the  god  had  appeared,  and  had  expressed  his 
satisfaction  with  them  and  their  patriotic  movement.  The 
Old  Buddha  observed  that  the  Jade  Emperor  had  appeared 
in  the  same  manner  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  the 
Emoress  Wu  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty  (the  most  famous 
woman  ruler  in  Chinese  history) ;  the  omen,  she  thought, 
showed  clearly  that  the  gods  are  on  the  side  of  China  and 
against  the  barbarians. 

When,  at  the  Hour  of  the  Sheep  (i  p.m.)  Kang  Yi  returned 
to  the  Palace,  he  found  Prince  Ch'ing  in  the  ante-room  of 
the  Grand  Council,  greatly  excited.  It  seems  that  En  Hai,^ 
a  Manchu  sergeant,  had  just  come  to  his  residence  and 
reported  that  he  had  shot  and  killed  two  foreigners  whom 
he  had  met,  riding  in  sedan  chairs  that  morning,  just 
opposite  the  Tsungpu  Street.  As  orders  had  been  issued 
by  Prince  Tuan  and  Ch'i  Hsiu  to  the  troops  that  all 
foreigners  were  to  be  shot  wherever  met,  and  as  one  of 
these  two  was  the  German  Minister,  he  hoped  that  Prince 
Ch'ing  would  recommend  him  for  special  promotion. 
Prince  Tuan  had  already  heard  the  news  and  was  greatly 
pleased.  Prince  Ch'ing  and  Kang  Yi  discussed  the  matter 
and  decided  to  inform  the  Empress  Dowager  at  once. 
Kang  Yi  did  not  think  that  the  death  of  one  foreign  devil, 
more  or  less,  could  matter  much,  especially  now  that  it  had 
been  decided  to  wipe  out  the  Legations  entirely,  but  Prince 
Ch'ing  thought  differently  and  reiterated  his  opinion  that 
the  killing  of  an  accredited  Envoy  is  a  serious  matter. 
Until  now,  only  missionaries  and  their  converts  had  been 
put  to  death,  but  the  murder  of  a  Minister  could  not  fail 
to  arouse  fierce  indignation,  even  as  it  did  in  the  case  of 
the  British  negotiator  ^  who  was  captured  by  our  troops 
in  the  loth  year  of  Hsien-Feng  (i860). 

^  This    man's  subsequent   arrest  and  execution  are   described  in  a 
ensorate  memorial  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 
*  Mr.  (later  Sir  Harry)  Parkes. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    185 

The  Grand  Council  then  entered  the  presence.  Prince 
Li,  as  the  senior  member  of  the  Council,  told  the  Old 
Buddha  the  news,  but  added  that  the  foreigners  had 
brought  it  on  themselves  because  they  had  first  fired  on  the 
people.  Upon  hearing  this  Her  Majesty  ordered  Jung  Lu 
to  be  summoned  in  haste,  but  Kang  Yi,  being  extremely 
busy  with  his  work  of  providing  supplies  for  the  Boxers, 
did  not  await  his  arrival. 

Now,  even  as  I  write,  they  tell  me  that  bullets  are 
whizzing  and  whistling  overhead;  but  I  am  too  deaf  to 
hear  them.  En  Ch'un  says  that  already  the  Kansuh  braves 
have  begun  the  attack  upon  the  Legations  and  that  Jung 
Lu's  endeavours  to  have  the  foreigners  escorted  to  a  place 
of  safety  have  completely  failed. 

Liu  Shun  has  just  come  in  and  asked  for  leave  to  go 
home  for  a  week.  People  are  leaving  the  city  in  all 
directions  and  in  great  numbers. 

2^th  Day  of  the  $th  Moon:  the  Hour  of  the  Dog,  7-9  p.m. 
(June  20th,  1900). — En  Ming  has  just  come  in  to  inform 
me  that  a  foreign  devil  ^  has  been  captured  by  Tung  Fu- 
hsiang's  troops.  They  were  taking  him,  wounded^  to 
Prince  Chuang's  Palace,  prodding  at  him  with  their 
bayonets;  and  he  was  babbling  in  his  foreign  tongue.  He 
will  be  decapitated,  and  his  captors  will  receive  good 
rewards  (Prince  Chuang  has  just  been  given  command  of 
the  Gendarmerie).  *'The  rut  in  which  the  cart  was  over- 
turned is  just  ahead."  Let  this  be  a  warning  to  those  puny 
barbarian  ruffians,  the  soldiery  encamped  at  the  very  gates 
of  the  palace.  {This  alludes  to  the  proximity  of  the  Lega- 
tions to  the  palace  enclosure.)  Jung  Lu  was  all  ready  to 
escort  the  foreigners  to  Tientsin;  he  had  with  him  over 
2000  Manchu  troops.  Doubtless  he  means  well,  but  the 
Old  Buddha  now  says  that  she  will  not  prevent  the  Kansuh 
braves  from  destroying  the  Legations.  If  the  foreigners 
choose  to  leave  with  Jung  Lu,  let  them  do  so,  and  they 
will  not  be  attacked;  but  if  they  insist  upon  remaining, 
then  their  punishment  be  upon  their  own  heads,  and  "let 
them  not  say  they  were  not  forewarned." 
^  Professor  James. 


i86    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Duke  Lan  sent  over  to  invite  me  to  breakfast  with  him 
to-morrow ;  he  is  sore  pressed  with  business  cares  just  now ; 
nevertheless,  he  and  his  brothers  always  treat  their  old 
teacher  with  politeness  and  respect.  Though  bellicose  by 
nature,  he  is  singularly  gentle  and  refined.  Chi  Pin  ^  sent 
over  to  ask  whether  we  would  like  to  move  to  his  house  in 
the  north  of  the  city,  because  the  noise  of  the  firing  is  very 
great  in  our  quarter,  but  I  am  so  deaf  that  I  hear  not  a 
sound  of  it  all.^ 

Chi  Pin  is  writing  to  his  father-in-law,  Yu  Hsien,  about 
the  audience  in  the  palace. 

Duke  Lan  writes  to  tell  me  that  this  evening  Na  T'ung 
informed  Prince  Tuan  and  Ch'i  Hsiu  that,  by  the  orders 
of  that  rascally  Chinaman,  Yiian  Ch'ang,  the  corpse  of 
the  foreign  devil  had  been  coffined.  Na  T*ung  wanted 
Prince  Tuan  to  have  the  corpse  decapitated  and  the  head 
exhibited  over  the  Tung  An  Gate.  Yiian  Ch'ang  defends 
his  action,  saying  that  he  knew  the  German  Minister 
personally  at  the  Tsung-li  Yamen,  and  he  cannot  bear  the 
idea  of  leaving  his  body  uncoffined.  Mencius  says  :  "It  is 
common  to  all  men  to  feel  pity.  No  one  can  see  a  child 
fall  into  a  well  without  a  shudder  of  commiseration  and 
horror."  But  these  Chinese  traitors  of  ours  are  compas- 
sionate to  the  enemies  of  our  glorious  Kingdom,  and  the 
foe;5  of  our  ancient  race.     It  is  passing  strange  ! 

2Sth  Day  of  the  $th  Moon:  the  Hour  of  the  Monkey, 
3-5  P.M.  (June  2ist). — My  chair-bearers  have  fled  from  the 
city,  so  to-day  I  had  to  use  my  cart  to  go  to  Duke  Lan's 
residence.  Prince  Tuan  and  the  Grand  Secretary,  Kang 
Yi,  were  there;  also  Chung  Li,  lately  Commandant  of  the 
Gendarmerie,  and  the  "Beileh"  Tsai  Lien.  Prince  Tuan 
had  seen  the  Old  Buddha  this  morning;  their  Majesties 
have  moved  from  the  palace  by  the  lake  into  the  Forbidden 
City.  As  the  Empress  Dowager  was  crossing  the  road 
which  runs  between  the  Gate  of  the  Hsi  Yiian  (Western 

*  Mentioned  above  under  full  name  of  Chi  Shou-ch'eng.  Chi  Pin  was 
his  "  hao  "  or  intimate  personal  name. 

*  Ching  Shan's  house  was  just  inside  the  Tung  An  Gate  of  the  Imperial 
City,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  north  of  the  present  Legation  arcu 
boundary. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    187 

Park)  and  the  Hsi  Hua  Gate  of  the  Forbidden  City  she 
saw  that  a  number  of  Boxers  had  lined  up  on  each  side  of 
the  street  as  a  Guard  of  Honour  for  the  "  Sacred  Chariot." 
She  presented  them  with  2000  taels,  congratulating  their 
commander,  Prince  Chuang,  on  their  stalwart  appearance. 
Saith  the  Old  Buddha  to  Prince  Tuan  :  *'The  foreigners 
are  like  fish  in  the  stew-pan.  For  forty  years  have  I  lain 
on  brushwood  and  eaten  bitterness  because  of  them, 
nursing  my  revenge  like  Prince  Kou  Chien  of  the  Yiieh 
State  (5th  century  B.C.).  Never  have  I  treated  the 
foreigners  otherwise  than  generously;  have  I  not  invited 
their  womenfolk  to  visit  the  Lake  Palace?  But  now,  if 
only  the  country  will  stand  together,  their  defeat  is 
certain." 

I  think  Prince  Tuan  hopes  that  the  Old  Buddha  will  now 
have  the  Ta  Age  proclaimed  Emperor;  but  unfortunately 
the  Nanking  Viceroy,  Liu  K'un-yi,  has  much  influence 
over  her  in  this  matter.  When  he  was  in  Peking  this 
spring,  in  the  second  moon,  he  solemnly  warned  her 
against  the  Boxers  and  ventured  even  to  remonstrate  at  the 
Ta  Age  being  made  Heir  Apparent.  Were  it  not  for 
Liu  K'un  Yi,  he  would  have  been  Emperor  long  since; 
therefore  Prince  Tuan  has  a  very  bitter  hatred  against  him. 
Liu  told  the  Old  Buddha  at  his  second  audience  that  if 
H.M.  Kuang  Hsii  were  deposed,  the  people  of  his  province 
would  assuredly  rise  in  rebellion.  What  concern  is  it  of 
theirs  who  reigns  in  the  Capital  ?  His  present  Majesty's 
reign  has  brought  many  misfortunes  to  the  nation ;  it  is 
high  time  that  it  came  to  an  end.  Why  does  not  Prince 
Tuan  enter  the  palace  and  proclaim  his  son  Emperor? 
Tung  Fu-hsiang's  Kansuh  braves  and  the  Prince's  own 
Manchu  soldiery  would  surely  rally  round  him.  But  if 
Jung  Lu  opposed  them  the  Old  Buddha  would  side  with 
him.     His  wife  ^  is  for  ever  in  the  palace. 

26th  Day  of  the  ^th  Moon  (June  22nd). — I   went  this 

^  This  favourite  companion  of  Tzu  Hsi  was  really  Jung  Lu's  secondary 
consort,  who  was  only  raised  to  the  rank  of  la  premiere  Ugitime  after  his 
first  wife's  death  in  September  1900.  She  survived  him  and  continued 
to  exercise  great  influence  with  the  Old  Buddha. 


i88    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

morning  to  Prince  Li's  palace  in  the  western  quarter  of  the 
city.  I  had  to  go  in  my  small  cart,  because  my  chair- 
bearers  have  either  run  away  to  their  homes  in  the  country 
or  had  joined  the  Boxers.  My  two  sons,  En  Ch'un  and 
En  Ming,  have  been  making  arrangements  to  quarter  one 
hundred  Boxers  in  our  outer  courtyard,  and  it  seems  that 
we  shall  have  to  supply  them  with  food.  Although  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  everyone  should  join  in  this  noble 
work  of  exterminating  the  barbarians,  I  grudge,  neverthe- 
less, spending  money  in  these  hard  times  even  for  the 
Boxers,  for  rice  is  now  become  as  dear  as  pearls,  and  fire- 
wood more  precious  than  cassia  buds.  It  may  be  that,  in 
my  old  age,  I  am  becoming  like  that  Hsiao  Hung,  brother 
to  the  founder  of  the  Liang  Dynasty,  who  was  so  miserly 
that  he  stored  up  his  money  in  heaps.  On  every  heap  of  a 
million  cash  he  would  place  a  yellow  label,  while  a  purple 
label  marked  each  hoard  of  ten  millions.  It  is  recorded  of 
him,  that  his  relatives  abused  him  for  this  habit ;  as  for  me, 
my  sons  would  like  to  get  at  my  money,  but  they  cannot. 

I  find  Prince  Li  much  depressed  in  his  mind;  his 
treasure  vaults  contain  vast  wealth;  as  senior  member  of 
the  Grand  Council,  moreover,  he  feels  a  weight  of  responsi- 
bility that  is  too  much  for  him.  His  abilities  are  certainly 
small,  and  I  have  never  yet  understood  why  the  Old 
Buddha  appointed  him  to  succeed  Kung  as  senior  Coun- 
cillor. He  tells  me  of  a  stormy  meeting  at  the  Grand 
Council  this  morning ;  it  seems  that  Her  Majesty  is  greatly 
annoyed  with  Liu  K'un-yi  for  sending  in  a  telegram 
strongly  denouncing  the  Boxers.  He  has  also  telegraphed 
privately  to  Jung  Lu,  imploring  him  to  check  their  rebel- 
lion, but  no  one  knows  what  answer  Jung  Lu  has  made. 

In  his  telegram  to  the  Empress  Dowager,  which  came 
forward  by  express  couriers  from  Paotingfu,  the  Viceroy 
declares  that  he  would  be  more  than  ready  to  march  north 
with  all  his  troops  if  it  were  to  repel  a  foreign  invasion, 
but  he  firmly  declines  to  lend  his  forces  for  the  purpose 
of  massacring  a  few  helpless  foreigners.  Commenting  on 
this,  the  Empress  Dowager  quoted  the  words  of  the  Classic 
Historical   Commentary  (Tso  Chuan)  :    "The   upper   and 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    189 

lower  jaws  mutually  assist  each  other;  if  the  lips  shrivel, 
then  must  the  teeth  catch  cold."  Thereby  she  meant  to 
imply  that  even  such,  in  its  close  interdependence,  is  the 
relation  between  the  northern  and  southern  parts  of  our 
Empire,  and  no  one  should  know  this  better  than  Liu 
K'un-yi,  after  his  experiences  at  the  time  of  the  Taiping 
Rebellion. 

The  Old  Buddha  has  directed  Prince  Chuang,  as  head  of 
the  city  Gendarmerie,  to  issue  a  proclamation  ofTering 
Tls.  50  for  every  head  of  a  male  barbarian  brought  in, 
Tls.  40  for  that  of  a  woman,  and  Tls.  30  for  that  of  a 
child. 

While  I  was  still  talking  with  Prince  Li,  Jung  Lu  came 
over  in  his  sedan  chair  to  visit  his  kinsman.  He  looks 
very  tired,  and  walks  with  a  limp.  He  was  loud  in 
denouncing  the  Boxers,  who,  he  says,  are  quite  incapable 
of  doing  any  good.  They  had  even  now  dared  to  shout 
abuse  at  him  while  passing  the  "Houmen,"  calling  him  a 
Chinese  traitor.  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  Jung  Lu 
deserved  the  name,  but  I  did  not  say  so.  He  is  a  strong 
man,  the  strongest  of  all  the  Manchus,  and  I  greatly  fear 
that  his  influence  may  yet  be  able  to  wreck  all  our  hopes. 

Returning  to  my  house,  I  heard  that  the  Princes  Tuan 
and  Chuang  were  sending  troops  to  surround  the  French 
Cathedral,  which  is  defended  by  a  few  foreign  soldiers 
only,  and  which  should,  therefore,  be  easily  captured. 
Prince  Li's  palace  is  within  a  stone 's-throw  of  the  cathe- 
dral, and  to  enter  the  Forbidden  City  he  has  to  pass  just 
south  of  it,  through  the  "Hsi-Hua"  gate.  Although 
greatly  disturbed  by  the  impending  hostilities  in  his  neigh- 
bourhood, he  fears  to  move  to  a  quieter  locality,  lest,  in 
his  absence,  his  treasure  vaults  should  be  plundered.  No 
doubt  the  cathedral  will  fall  in  a  few  days. 

My  courtyard  is  now  full  of  Boxers  and  Kansuh  soldiery ; 
I  can  no  longer  call  my  house  my  own.  How  I  loathe 
these  cursed  foreigners  for  causing  all  this  disturbance ! 

The  same  Day:  at  the  Hour  of  the  Dog  (7-9  p.m.). — I 
learn  that  Jung  Lu  has  just  sent  off  a  courier  with  a  tele- 
gram, which  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  is  to  send  on  to  the  Viceroys 


190    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

of  Canton,  Nanking  and  Wuch'ang.     Prince  Li  has  sent 
me  a  copy,  which  I  am  to  keep  secret ;  it  reads  as  follows  :  — 

"With  all  respect  I  have  received  your  telegrams.  Where 
one  weak  people  dares  to  oppose  ten  or  more  powerful  nations, 
the  inevitable  result  can  only  be  complete  ruin.  It  has  always 
been  maintained  as  a  fixed  principle  with  civilised  nations,  that, 
in  the  event  of  war  between  any  two  Powers,  their  respective 
Envoys  should  be  treated  with  respect.  Can  it  now  be  that 
this  our  great  inheritance,  founded  by  our  remote  ancestors 
at  so  great  a  cost  of  toil  and  danger,  is  to  be  endangered,  and 
suddenly  brought  to  ruin,  by  these  false  workers  of  magic? 
Shall  the  fate  of  the  Dynasty  be  staked  on  a  single  throw? 
It  requires  no  pecuHar  sagacity  to  see  that  these  Boxers'  hopes 
of  success  are  nothing  but  the  shadow  of  a  dream.  It  is  true 
and  undeniable,  that,  from  Their  Majesties  on  the  Throne  down 
to  the  very  lowest  of  our  people,  all  have  suffered  from  the 
constant  aggression  of  foreigners  and  their  unceasing  insults. 
For  this  reason  these  patriotic  train-bands  have  been  organised, 
claiming  a  divine  mission  of  retahation ;  but  the  present  crisis 
is  all-serious,  and  although  I  have  used  every  effort  to  explain 
its  dangers,  I  have  laboured  in  vain.  I  am  sick  and  suffering 
from  lameness,  but  since  I  obtained  leave  of  absence  I  have 
already  submitted  seven  separate  memorials  denouncing  these 
Boxers.  Seeing  that  they  produced  no  result,  I  have  now  left 
my  sick  bed,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  explain  the  situation 
clearly  to  Their  Majesties;  and  this  also  has  been  in  vain. 

"All  the  Princes  and  Ministers  of  State  who  surround  the 
Throne  now  cry  out  against  me  with  one  voice,  as  your 
Excellencies  can  readily  believe.  I  dare  not  quote  in  this 
place  the  words  of  Her  Majesty,  but  I  may  say  that  the  whole 
of  the  Imperial  family  have  joined  the  Boxers,  and  at  least 
two-thirds  of  our  troops,  both  Manchu  and  Chinese,  are  with 
them.  They  swarm  in  the  streets  of  our  capital  like  a  plague 
of  locusts,  and  it  will  be  extremely  difficult  to  disperse  them. 

*'  Even  the  divine  wisdom  of  Her  Majesty  is  not  sufficient 
to  stand  against  the  will  of  the  majority.  If  Heaven  is  not 
on  our  side,  how  can  I  oppose  its  will?  For  several  days  past 
I  have  been  pondering  night  and  day  on  some  way  out  of  our 
difficulties,  some  forlorn  hope  of  escape.  Therefore  yesterday 
morning  (June  20th)  I  arranged  for  a  meeting  with  the  foreign 
Ministers  at  the  Tsung-li  Yam^n,  with  a  view  to  providing  a 
safe-conduct  for  the  entire  foreign  community,  with  my  own 
troops,  to  Tientsin.  This  course  appeared  to  me  to  hold  out 
same  reasonable  chances  of  success,  but  Prince  Tuan's  soldiery 
slew  the  German  Minister,  and  since  then  the  situation  continues 
to  develop  from  hour  to  hour  with  such  extraordinary  rapidity 
that  words  fail  me  to  describe  it.     On  my  side,   in  the  dis- 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    191 

cussions  of  the  Grand  Council  and  the  Chamberlains  of  the 
Presence,  are  Prince  Ch'ing  and  Wang  Wen-shao,  but  the 
former,  following  his  usual  practice,  has  applied  for  leave,  and 
Her  Majesty  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  him ;  so  that  these 
two  are  of  no  real  assistance  to  me.  I  have  no  fear  of  death, 
but  I  grieve  at  the  thought  of  the  guilt  which  will  be  recorded 
against  me  in  history;  Heaven  knows  that  I  am  overwhelmed 
with  grief  and  shame.  I  have  received  great  favours  at  the 
hands  of  the  Throne,  and  can  only  now  pray  to  the  spirits  of 
the  Dynastic  ancestors  to  protect  our  Empire.  The  situation 
here  is  well-nigh  lost,  but  it  remains  for  your  Excellencies  to 
take  all  possible  steps  for  the  protection  of  your  respective 
provinces.  Let  each  do  his  utmost,  and  let  proper  secrecy  be 
maintained."     Signed  "Jung  Lu,  with  tears  in  his  eyes." 

It  is  reported  from  the  Grand  Council  that  Chang  Chih- 
tung  has  telegraphed  to  Her  Majesty,  assuring  her  of  his 
devotion  and  loyalty,  and  asking  whether  he  should  come 
north  with  his  troops  to  help  in  the  work  of  destroying 
the  barbarians.  Chang  is  a  time-server,  and  loves  not  the 
Emperor;  we  have  not  forgotten  how  he  approved  the 
Decree  appointing  an  Heir  Apparent,  and  how  he  would 
have  been  a  party  to  His  Majesty's  removal  from  the 
Throne,  justifying  himself  on  quibbling  grounds  of  legality 
and  precedents  as  to  the  lawful  succession.  He  trims  his 
sails  according  to  the  wind  of  the  moment,  and  has  no 
courage  of  fixed  principles,  like  Liu  K'un-yi.  I  despise 
the  latter's  views  in  opposing  the  Boxers,  but  no  one  can 
help  admiring  his  upright  character. 

(At  this  point  the  diarist  proceeds  to  give  a  full  account 
of  the  rise  and  spread  of  the  Boxer  movement,  describing 
in  detail  their  magic  rites,  their  incantations,  and  their 
ceremonies  of  initiation.  The  facts  have  nearly  all  been 
published  before,  so  that  most  of  this  portion  of  the  Diary 
is  here  omitted.  It  is  chiefly  interesting  as  showing  to 
what  heights  of  superstition  even  the  most  educated  of  the 
Manchus,  including  the  Empress  Dowager,  could  go.  We 
give  one  example  only  of  the  farrago  of  gibberish  which, 
believed  in  high  quarters,  nearly  brought  about  the  end  of 
the  Dynasty.) 


192    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

The  Boxers  also  possess  a  secret  Talisman,  consisting-  of 
a  small  piece  of  yellow  paper,  which  they  carry  on  their 
persons  when  going  into  battle.  On  it  is  drawn,  in  Vermil- 
lion paint,  a  figure  which  is  neither  that  of  man  nor  devil, 
demon  nor  saint.  It  has  a  head,  but  no  feet;  its  face  is 
sharp-pointed,  with  eyes  and  eyebrows,  and  four  halos. 
From  the  monster's  heart  to  its  lower  extremities  runs  a 
mystic  inscription,  which  reads:  "I  am  Buddha  of  the 
cold  cloud;  before  me  lies  the  black  deity  of  fire;  behind 
is  Laotzu  himself."  On  the  creature's  body  are  also  borne 
the  characters  for  Buddha,  Tiger,  and  Dragon.  On  the 
top  left-hand  corner  are  the  words  "invoke  first  the 
Guardian  of  Heaven,"  and  on  the  right-hand  corner,  "in- 
voke next  the  black  gods  of  pestilence."  The  Empress 
Dowager  has  learned  this  incantation  by  heart,  and  repeats 
it  seventy  times  daily,  and  every  time  that  she  repeats  it 
the  chief  eunuch  (Li  Lien-ying)  shouts:  "There  goes  one 
more  foreign  devil."  The  Boxers  determine  the  fate  of 
their  victims  by  a  curious  test,  which  consists  of  burning 
a  ball  of  paper,  and  seeing  whether  the  ashes  ascend  or 
remain  upon  the  ground.  They  may  believe  that  it  is  the 
spirits  who  decide,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  these  balls  of 
paper  are  sometimes  made  of  thinner  material,  which 
naturally  leave  a  lighter  ash  that  is  easily  caught  up  in  the 
air ;  whereas,  when  they  use  thick  paper,  the  ashes  seldom 
rise.  Some  of  the  balls  are  also  more  tightly  rolled  than 
others,  and  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  ashes  of  the  loose 
ones  have  a  much  better  chance  of  blowing  away  than  those 
which  are  tightly  rolled.  Similarly,  when  they  set  fire  to 
any  place,  they  profess  to  be  guided  by  their  gods,  and 
they  say  that  fire  leaps  forth  at  the  point  of  their  swords 
in  any  quarter  which  the  spirits  desire  to  have  destroyed. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  there  is  deception  practised 
in  this  also,  for  when  they  wish  to  burn  any  place  for  pur- 
poses of  plunder  they  have  it  sprinkled  in  advance  with 
kerosene  oil,  and  if  no  oil  is  available,  they  even  pile  up 
brushwood  around  it,  upon  which  they  drop  a  lighted 
match  secreted  upon  their  persons. 

2'jth   Day  of  the  ^th  Moon  (June  23rd). — The  foreign 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY   CHING  SHAN    193 

barbarian  of  whom  I  have  written  ^  was  executed  this 
morning  at  the  hour  of  the  Hare  (6  a.m.)  and  his  head  is 
now  exhibited  in  a  cage,  hanging  from  the  main  beam  of 
the  "Tung-An  *'  gate.  It  had  to  be  put  in  a  cage,  as  there 
was  no  queue  to  hang  it  by.  The  face  has  a  most  horrible 
expression,  but  it  is  a  fine  thing,  all  the  same,  to  see  a 
foreigner's  head  hung  up  at  our  palace  gates.  It  brings 
back  to  memory  the  heads  that  I  saw  outside  the  Board  of 
Punishments  in  the  tenth  year  of  Hsien-Feng  (i860),  but 
there  were  black  devils  among  those.  Jung  Lu  tried  to 
save  the  barbarian's  life,  and  even  intended  to  rescue  him 
by  force,  but  the  Princes  Tuan  and  Chuang  had  deter- 
mined upon  his  death,  and  they  had  him  executed  before 
Jung  Lu  knew  it,  so  that,  when  his  men  arrived  upon  the 
scene,  the  foreigner's  head  had  already  parted  company 
from  his  body.  The  Princes  had  him  kneeling  before 
them  yesterday  for  several  hours  on  a  chain,  and  all  the 
time  he  kept  on  imploring  them  to  spare  his  life;  his 
groans  were  most  painful  to  hear.  The  Old  Buddha  has 
been  informed  of  his  death,  and  she  gave  orders  that 
Tls.  500  be  distributed  to  the  soldiers  who  had  captured 
him,  i.  e,  a  reward  ten  times  greater  than  that  which 
was  promised  in  the  proclamations. 

The  Boxers  who  occupy  my  courtyard  tried  to  take  away 
my  cigars  from  me,  but  subsequently  relented  and  allowed 
me  to  keep  them  because  of  my  extreme  old  age.  Nothing 
of  foreign  origin,  not  even  matches,  may  be  used  nowa- 
days, and  these  Boxer  chiefs,  Chang  Te-ch'eng  and  Han 
Yi-li,  both  of  whom  are  common  and  uneducated  men,  are 
treated  with  the  greatest  respect  even  by  Princes  of  the 
blood  :  a  curious  state  of  affairs  indeed  ! 

Duke  Tsai  Lan  came  to  see  me  this  afternoon.  He  tells 
me  an  extraordinary  story  how  that  the  Heir  Apparent 
called  the  Emperor  a  "devil's  pupil"  this  morning,  and, 
when  rebuked  for  it,  actually  boxed  His  Majesty's  ears. 
The  Emperor  then  reported  the  facts  in  a  memorial  to 
Her  Majesty,  who  flew  into  a  towering  rage,  and  gave 
orders  to  the  eunuch  Ts'ui  to  administer  twenty  sharp 
*  Vide  under  June  20th. 
o 


194    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

strokes  of  the  whip  on  the  Heir  Apparent's  person.  Prince 
Tuan  is  much  enraged  at  this,  but  he  is  horribly  afraid  of 
Her  Majesty,  and,  when  she  speaks  to  him,  "he  is  on 
tenter-hooks,  as  if  thorns  pricked  him,  and  the  sweat  runs 
down  his  face." 

Tung  Fu-hsiang  told  the  Empress  Dowager  yesterday 
that  the  Legations  have  come  to  the  end  of  their  tether. 
From  a  rockery  on  some  high  ground  in  the  Forbidden 
City  gardens,  the  Old  Buddha  could  see  the  flames  burst- 
ing from  the  Legation  quarter,  and  was  more  than  once 
assured  that  final  destruction  had  come  upon  the  foreigners 
at  last.  But  later  in  the  afternoon,  Hsii  Ching-ch'eng  was 
received  in  audience,  when  he  presented  a  memorial  which 
he  and  Yiian  Ch'ang  had  drawn  up,  denouncing  the 
Boxers ;  he  told  Her  Majesty  that  it  was  not  the  Legations, 
but  the  Han-lin  Academy,  that  was  in  flames,  the  Kansuh 
soldiery  having  set  fire  to  it  in  the  hope  that  the  conflagra- 
tion might  spread  and  thus  enable  them  to  force  a  way  into 
the  Legation.  Her  Majesty  was  greatly  disappointed  and 
displeased,  severely  blaming  Tung  Fu-hsiang,  and  she  sent 
for  Jung  Lu  and  talked  with  him  in  private  for  a  long 
while. 

Good  news  has  come  in  to-day  of  victorious  fighting  at 
Tientsin;  Yii  Lu  reports  that  many  foreigners  were  slain 
in  their  attack  on  the  Taku  forts,  and  several  of  their  war- 
ships sunk.  Practically  the  whole  of  the  foreign  com- 
munity of  Tientsin  had  been  annihilated,  he  says. 

Many  hundreds  of  Chinese  Christians  were  put  to  death 
to-day  just  outside  Prince  Chuang's  palace.  The  judges 
who  convicted  them  were  Prince  Chuang,  Yi  Ku,  Fen  Ch'e, 
and  Kuei  Ch'un.  There  was  no  mercy  shown,  and  a  large 
number  of  innocent  people  perished  with  the  guilty.  The 
Empress  is  essentially  a  kind-hearted  woman,  and  she  was 
greatly  shocked  to  hear  of  this  wholesale  massacre.  She 
was  heard  to  say  that  if  the  Catholics  would  only  recant 
and  reform,  a  way  of  escape  might  very  well  be  provided 
for  them. 

2gth  Day  of  the  s^h  Moon  (June  25th). — To-day  about 
sixty  of  the  Boxers,  led  by  the  Princes  Tuan  and  Chuang, 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN      195 

and  the  "Beilehs"  Tsai  Lien  and  Tsai  Ying,  marched  to 
the  palace  at  6  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  search  there  for 
converts.  Coming  to  the  gate  of  the  Palace  of  Peaceful 
Longevity,  where  Their  Majesties  were  still  abed,  they 
noisily  clamoured  for  the  Emperor  to  come  out,  denounc- 
ing him  as  a  friend  of  foreigners.  Prince  Tuan  was  their 
spokesman.  I  heard  of  the  incident  from  Wen  Lien, 
Comptroller  of  the  Household,  who  was  on  duty  this  morn- 
ing; he  was  amazed  at  the  foolhardy  effrontery  of  Prince 
Tuan,  and  thought  that  he  had  probably  been  drinking. 
On  hearing  the  noise  outside  and  the  shouts  of  the  Boxers 
clamouring  to  kill  all  "devil's  pupils,"  the  Old  Buddha, 
who  was  taking  her  early  tea,  came  out  swiftly  and  stood 
at  the  head  of  the  steps,  while  the  Princes  and  the  Boxer 
leaders  swarmed  in  the  courtyard  below  her.  She  asked 
Prince  Tuan  whether  he  had  come  to  look  upon  himself 
as  the  Emperor ;  if  not,  how  dared  he  behave  in  this  reck- 
less and  insolent  manner  ?  She  would  have  him  know  that 
she,  and  she  alone,  had  power  to  create  or  depose  the 
Sovereign,  and  she  would  have  him  remember  that  the 
power  which  had  made  his  son  Heir  Apparent  could  also 
wipe  him  out  in  a  moment.  If  he  and  his  fellow  Princes 
thought  that  because  the  State  was  at  a  crisis  of  confusion 
they  could  follow  their  own  inclinations  in  matters  of  this 
kind,  they  would  find  themselves  very  seriously  mistaken. 
She  bade  them  depart,  and  refrain  from  ever  again  enter- 
ing the  palace  precincts,  except  when  summoned  to  her 
presence  on  duty.  But  they  would  first  prostrate  them- 
selves and  ask  His  Majesty's  pardon  for  their  insolent 
behaviour.  As  a  slight  punishment  for  their  offences,  she 
further  commanded  that  the  Princes  be  mulcted  of  a  year's 
allowances.  As  to  the  Boxer  chiefs,  who  had  dared  to 
create  this  uproar  in  her  hearing,  they  should  be  decapi- 
tated upon  the  spot,  and  Jung  Lu's  guards,  who  were  on 
duty  at  the  outer  gates,  were  ordered  to  carry  this  sentence 
into  immediate  effect.  Her  Majesty  is  so  greatly  incensed 
against  the  Boxers  at  this  moment  that  everyone  thinks 
that  Jung  Lu  will  now  be  able  to  put  a  stop  to  the  attacks 
on  the  Legations.    The  Emperor  was  much  alarmed  at  this 


196    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

incident,   and    when    it   was   over   humbly    thanked    Her 
Majesty  for  so  benevolently  protecting  him. 

Later;  g  p.m. — The  Old  Buddha  has  suddenly  deter- 
mined, in  her  rage  against  Prince  Tuan  and  his  followers, 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  fighting  in  Peking,  and  she  now  agrees 
that  Jung  Lu  shall  proceed  to  the  Legations  to  discuss 
terms  of  peace.  At  6  p.m.  to-day  all  firing  stopped,  and 
Jung  Lu,  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  proceeded  to  the  bridge 
which  lies  on  the  north  of  the  Legation  quarter.  The 
foreigners  came  out  from  their  hiding-places  and  com- 
menced to  parley ;  they  were  shown  a  board,  and  on  it  the 
words  written  :  **  Orders  have  now  been  received  from  the 
Empress  Dowager  to  afford  due  protection  to  the  Lega- 
tions." Jung  Lu  hoped  to  be  able  to  induce  the  foreign 
Ministers  to  confer  with  him  for  the  purpose  of  restoring 
order.  For  three  hours  not  a  shot  has  been  fired ;  but  En 
Ming  has  just  come  in  to  tell  me  that  the  situation  has 
again  changed,  and  that  the  Old  Buddha  has  heard  such 
good  accounts  of  the  defeat  of  the  foreign  relief  force  on 
its  way  to  Peking  that  she  is  once  more  determined  to  give 
the  Boxers  their  head  and  "to  eat  the  flesh  and  sleep  on 
the  skins  "  of  the  foreign  devils. 

4t/i  Day  of  the  6th  Moon:  at  the  Hour  of  the  Dog,  7  p.m. 
(June  30,  1900.) — Kang  Yi  called  to-day,  and  remained 
with  me  for  the  evening  meal.  He  tells  me  that  Tung 
Fu-hsiang  called  in  person  this  morning  on  Jung  Lu  at  his 
residence,  and  asked  him  for  the  loan  of  the  heavy  artillery 
which  is  under  his  orders.  Jung  Lu  is  said  to  have  ample 
armaments  in  stock  in  the  city,  the  property  of  the  Wu 
Wei-chiin  (Military  Defence  Corps)  sufficient  to  knock 
every  foreign  building  to  pieces  in  a  few  hours. 

Tung  was  kept  waiting  at  Jung  Lu's  door  for  over  an 
hour;  when  finally  admitted,  he  began  to  bluster,  where- 
upon Jung  Lu  feigned  sleep.  "He  gave  no  consent,  but 
leant  on  his  seat  and  slumbered."  ^  Tung  then  expostu- 
lated with  Jung  Lu  for  his  rudeness,  but  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  only  smiled,  and  brought  the  interview  to  an  end 
by  remarking  that  Tung's  only  way  to  get  the  guns  would 
*  A  quotation  from  Mencius. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    197 

be  to  persuade  the  Old  Buddha  to  give  him  Jung  Lu*s 
head  with  them.  "Apply  for  an  audience  at  once,"  he 
said.  "She  believes  you  to  be  a  brave  man  and  will 
certainly  comply  with  any  request  you  may  make." 

Tung   Fu-hsiang   left  in   a   towering   rage,    and   made 
straight  for  the  Forbidden   City,   although  the  hour  for 
audiences  was  long  since  past.    At  the  gate  of  the  Hall  of 
Imperial  Supremacy  (Huangchi  tien)  he  made  a  loud  dis- 
turbance, bidding  the  eunuchs  inform  Her  Majesty  that 
the   Kansuh   Commander-in-Chief   was  without,   desiring 
audience.     It    so    happened    that    the    Old    Buddha    was 
engaged  in  painting  a  design  of  bamboos  on  silk,  and  she 
was   highly   displeased  at   being   thus  disturbed.     Tung 
was  ushered  in,  however,  and  fell  on  his  knees.    "Well," 
said  Her  Majesty,  "  I  suppose  that  you  have  come  to  report 
the  complete  destruction  of  the  Legations?    This  will  be 
the  tenth   time  since  the  end  of   last   Moon."     "I   have 
come,"  replied  Tung  Fu-hsiang,  "to  ask  Your  Majesty's 
permission  to  impeach  the  Grand  Secretary  Jung  Lu  as  a 
traitor  and  the  friend  of  barbarians.     He  has  the  guns 
which  my  army  needs ;  with  their  aid  not  a  stone  would  be 
left  standing  in  the  whole  of  the  Legation  quarter.     But 
he  has  sworn  never  to  lend  these  guns,  even  though  Your 
Majesty  should  command  it."     Angrily  the  Old  Buddha 
replied  :  "  Be  silent.    You  were  nothing  but  a  brigand  to 
begin  with,  and  if  I  allowed  you  to  enter  my  army  it  was 
only  to  give  you  an  opportunity  of  atoning  for  your  former 
misdeeds.     Even  now  you  are  behaving  like  a  brigand, 
forgetting  the  majesty  of  the   Imperial   Presence.     Of  a 
truth,  your  tail  is  becoming  too  heavy  to  wag.    Leave  the 
palace  forthwith,  and  do  not  let  me  find  you  here  again 
unless  summoned  to  audience." 

Kang  Yi  declares  that  we  shall  never  take  the  Legations 
so  long  as  Jung  Lu  continues  to  exercise  his  present  great 
influence  at  Court.  Li  Shan,  who  is  also  a  great  favourite 
of  the  Empress  Dowager,  is  now  on  the  side  of  those  who 
would  make  peace  with  the  foreigners,  and  has  been 
impeached  for  it  by  Na  T'ung. 
The  following  proclamation  is  now  placarded  all  over 


198    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

the  city,  in  accordance  with  the  Empress  Dowager's  orders 
issued  to  Prince  Chuang.  They  say  that  she  means  to  pay 
the  rewards  from  her  own  privy  purse  : — 

"  Rewards* 

"  Now  that  all  foreign  churches  and  chapels  have  been  razed 
to  the  ground,  and  that  no  place  of  refuge  or  concealment  is 
left  for  the  foreigners,  they  must  unavoidably  scatter,  flying  in 
every  direction.  Be  it  therefore  known  and  announced  to  all 
men,  scholars  and  volunteers,  that  any  person  found  guilty  of 
harbouring  foreigners  will  incur  the  penalty  of  decapitation. 
For  every  male  foreigner  taken  alive  a  reward  of  50  taels  will 
be  given;  for  every  female  40  taels,  and  for  every  child  30 
taels ;  but  it  is  to  be  clearly  understood  that  they  shall  be  taken 
alive,  and  that  they  shall  be  genuine  foreigners.  Once  this 
fact  has  been  duly  authenticated,  the  reward  will  be  paid 
without  delay.  A  special  proclamation,  requiring  reverent 
obedience." 

Much  larger  rewards  than  these  were  paid  in  the  tenth 
year  of  Hsieng-Feng  (i860)  for  the  heads  of  barbarians, 
but  of  course  in  those  days  they  were  comparatively  rare, 
whereas  now,  alas,  they  have  become  as  common  as  bees ! 

This  morning  an  important  trial  took  place  outside  the 
gate  of  Prince  Chuang's  palace;  Yi  Ku,  Fen  Ch'e,  and 
Kuei  Ch'un  presided.  Over  nine  hundred  people  were 
summarily  executed  by  the  Boxers,  in  some  cases  before 
any  proofs  whatsoever  had  been  substantiated  in  regard  to 
their  alleged  connection  with  foreigners.  Helpless  babes 
even  were  amongst  the  slain.  Fen  Ch'e  is  nothing  more 
than  a  butcher  and  the  Old  Buddha  remonstrated  with 
Prince  Chuang  for  not  keeping  the  Boxers  in  better  order. 

8th  Day  of  the  6th  Moon,  11  a.m.  (July  4th). — Yu 
Hsien's  son-in-law,  Chi  Shou-ch'eng,  came  and  talked 
with  me  for  a  long  while.  The  bombardment  of  the  city 
was  going  on  all  the  time  he  was  here,  and  to  the  south 
of  my  house,  close  to  the  Imperial  City  wall,  the  troops 
of  Li  Ping-heng  were  mounting  cannon  on  an  elevated 
platform.  They  are  all  still  very  wroth  with  Jung  Lu,  who 
refuses  to  lend  his  guns,  and  his  troops  are  so  faithful  to 
him  that  it  is  impossible  to  bribe  them  to  disobey  him. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    199 

Jung  Lu's  courage  is  really  extraordinary;  he  said  of  him- 
self lately,  that  "  in  the  days  of  the  wicked  Ruler  (meaning 
Prince  Tuan)  he  bided  his  time  on  the  shores  of  the  bleak 
North  Sea,  awaiting  the  purification  of  the  Empire."  ^  I 
am  told  that  Prince  Tuan  has  taken  possession  of  one  of 
the  Imperial  Seals,  so  as  to  be  able  to  proclaim  his  son 
Emperor  at  the  first  favourable  opportunity;  but  if  the 
Old  Buddha  finds  this  out,  as  most  probably  she  will,  there 
is  trouble  ahead  for  Prince  Tuan. 

Chi  Shou-ch*eng  tells  me  that  Yii  Hsien  has  sent  in  a 
memorial  to  the  Empress  Dowager  with  reference  to  the 
missionaries  in  Shansi.  Ten  days  ago  she  had  sent  him  a 
secret  Decree,  saying:  "Slay  all  foreigners  wheresoever 
you  find  them ;  even  though  they  be  prepared  to  leave  your 
province,  yet  must  they  be  slain."  It  seems  that  the  Old 
Buddha  ordered  that  this  Decree  should  be  sent  to  every 
high  provincial  official  in  the  Empire,  but  it  is  now  reported 
that  Tuan  Fang,  the  acting  governor  of  Shensi,  and  Yii 
Chang,  governor  of  Honan,  together  with  the  high  officials 
in  Mongolia,  received  the  Edict  in  a  very  different  form, 
for  the  word  "slay"  had  been  changed  to  "protect."  It 
is  feared  that  some  treacherous  Minister  is  responsible  for 
this,  but  no  one  dares  inform  Her  Majesty.  To  Yii  Hsien's 
latest  memorial,  she  has  made  the  following  reply,  which 
has  been  sent  by  the  fastest  express  riders  to  T*ai-YUan 
f u  :  "I  command  that  all  foreigners — men,  women,  and 
children,  old  and  young — be  summarily  executed.  Let  not 
one  escape,  so  that  my  Empire  may  be  purged  of  this 
noisome  source  of  corruption,  and  that  peace  may  be 
restored  to  my  loyal  subjects."  Chi  Shou-ch'eng  tells  me 
that  Yii  Hsien's  bitterness  against  foreigners  is  inspired 
by  his  wife,  of  whom  he  is  greatly  afraid.  He  himself  has 
earned  golden  opinions  in  T'aiyiian  during  his  short 
administration,  and  has  a  high  reputation  for  even-handed 
justice.  He  says  also  that  this  last  Decree  gave  pleasure 
to  Prince  Chuang;  Jung  Lu  tried  to  stop  it,  asking  the 
Old  Buddha  what  glory  could  China  expect  to  gain  by 
the  slaughter  of  women  and  children.  "We  should 
^  Quotation  from^Mencius. 


200    CHINA  UNDER  THE   EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

become  the  laughing-stock  of  the  world,"  he  said,  "and  the 
Old  Buddha's  widespread  fame  and  reputation  for  benevol- 
ence would  be  grievously  injured."  "Yes,"  replied  the 
Empress  Dowager,  "but  these  foreigners  of  yours  wish  to 
see  me  deposed,  and  I  am  only  paying  off  old  scores. 
Ever  since  the  days  of  Tao-Kuang  this  uproarious  guest 
within  our  borders  has  been  maltreating  his  hosts,  and  it  is 
time  that  all  should  know  who  is  the  real  master  of  the 
house." 

Yesterday  afternoon  the  Empress  Dowager  crossed  over 
to  the  Lake  Palace  for  a  water  picnic,  attended  by  several 
ladies  of  the  Court.  The  continuous  bombardment  of  the 
French  cathedral  eventually  made  her  head  ache,  so  she 
despatched  a  chamberlain  to  the  officer  commanding  at 
the  Hsi-Hua  Gate,  ordering  them  to  cease  firing  until  her 
return  to  the  Forbidden  City. 

nth  Day  of  the  6th  Moon  (7th  July). — Yii  Lu  has  sent 
in  a  ridiculous  memorial,  reporting  the  capture  of  four 
camels,  as  well  as  the  killing  of  many  foreigners,  in  Tien- 
tsin. Jung  Lu  has  advised  him  to  cease  attacking  the 
foreign  Settlements.  Talking  of  Jung  Lu,  I  hear  that 
Tung  Fu-hsiang  recently  hired  a  Manchu  soldier  to  assas- 
sinate him,  but,  instead  of  doing  so,  the  man  betrayed  the 
plot  to  Jung  Lu.  This  soldier  turns  out  to  be  a  brother  of 
that  En  Hai  who  slew  the  foreign  devil  (Baron  von 
Ketteler),  and  Tung  thought  therefore  that  he  w^ould  gladly 
do  anything  to  assist  in  destroying  the  Legations.  But  he 
is  a  clansman  of  Jung  Lu's  banner,  and,  like  Yii  Kung- 
ssu,  whom  Mencius  called  the  best  archer  in  Wei,  "he 
could  not  bear  to  slay  the  old  Chief  who  had  taught  him 
the  arts  of  war."  Jung  Lu  has  again  memorialised  the 
Old  Buddha,  reminding  her  of  that  well-known  saying 
in  the  Spring  and  Autumn  Annals,^  which  lays  down  that 
the  persons  of  foreign  Envoys  are  always  inviolate  within 
the  territories  of  any  civilised  State.  This  attack  on  the 
Legation,  he  says,  is  worse  than  an  outrage;  it  is  a  piece 
of  stupidity  which  will  be  remembered  against  China  for 

*  History  of  events  under  the  Chou  dynasty,  by  Confucius,  one  of  the 
Five  Classics. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    201 

all  time.  Her  Majesty  appeared  to  think  that,  because  a 
small  nation  like  the  Transvaal  could  conquer  a  great 
Power  like  England,  China  must  necessarily  be  even  more 
successful  in  fighting  the  whole  world;  but  there  was  no 
analogy  between  the  two  cases.  If  peace  were  to  be  made 
at  once,  the  situation  might  still  be  saved;  but  if  the 
Legations  were  demolished,  there  must  be  an  end  of 
Manchu  rule.  He  warned  Her  Majesty  solemnly,  and  she 
appears  to  be  gradually  coming  to  look  at  things  from  his 
point  of  view.  These  Boxers  can  certainly  talk,  but  they 
do  very  little. 

Bad  news  has  reached  the  palace  to-day  of  the  fighting 
around  Tientsin,  and  Her  Majesty  is  most  anxious  about 
it,  though  she  still  refuses  to  believe  that  the  foreign 
brigands  can  possibly  enter  Peking. 

i^th  Day  of  the  6th  Moon  (nth  July). — My  neighbour 
Wen  Lien,  Comptroller-General  of  the  Imperial  House- 
hold, tells  me  that  the  Old  Buddha  is  in  a  furious  rage. 
She  finds  the  heat  trying,  and  yesterday  she  turned  on  the 
Heir  Apparent  and  snubbed  him  badly  for  impertinence; 
he  had  asked  if  he  might  be  permitted  to  escort  her  to 
Jehol,  leaving  the  Emperor  to  settle  matters  with  his 
foreign  friends  in  Peking.  One  of  the  young  eunuchs 
tried  to  mollify  her  by  reporting,  whenever  the  report  of 
a  gun  was  heard,  that  another  foreign  devil  had  been 
killed,  but  as  the  Old  Buddha  observed,  "there  has  been 
enough  firing  for  the  past  few  weeks  to  kill  off  every 
foreigner  in  China  several  times,  and  so  far  there  is  hardly 
anything  to  show  for  it." 

ly th  Day  of  the  6th  Moon  (13th  July). — Jung  Lu  asked 
Her  Majesty  yesterday  what  she  would  do  if  the  Boxers 
were  defeated,  and  if  Peking  were  captured  by  the 
foreigners.  In  reply,  she  quoted  to  him  the  words  of 
Chia  Yi,  a  sophist  of  the  Han  dynasty,  in  reference  to  the 
Court's  diplomatic  dealings  with  the  Khan  of  the  Hans  :  — 

**  If  the  Emperor  wishes  to  gain  the  allegiance  of  other 
countries,  he  can  only  do  so  by  convincing  their  rulers  that  he 
possesses  the  three  cardinal  virtues  of  government,  and  by 
displaying  the  five  allurements. 


202     CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

These  allurements  are :  (i)  Presents  of  chariots  and  rich 
robes,  to  tempt  the  eye;  (2)  rich  food  and  banquets,  to  tempt 
the  palate;  (3)  musical  maidens,  to  tempt  the  ear;  (4)  fine 
houses  and  beautiful  women,  to  tempt  the  instinct  of  luxury ; 
and  (5)  the  presence  of  the  Emperor  at  the  table  of  the  foreign 
ruler,  to  tempt  his  pride. 

The  three  cardinal  virtues  of  government  are :  (i)  to  simulate 
affection ;  (2)  to  express  honeyed  sentiments ;  and  (3)  to  treat 
one's  inferiors  as  equals." 

Two  years  ago,  said  the  Empress,  she  had  invited  the 
foreign  ladies  to  her  Court,  and  had  noticed  their  delight 
at  the  reception  she  gave  them,  although  she  well  knew 
that  their  sympathies  were  with  the  Emperor,  and  against 
her.  She  would  again  allure  them  to  her  side  with  rich 
gifts  and  honeyed  words. ^ 

20th  Day  of  the  6th  Moon  (i6th  July). — Bad  news  from 
Yii  Lu ;  Tientsin  has  been  captured  by  the  foreigners,  who 
now  swarm  like  locusts.  Not  one  of  the  Grand  Councillors 
dared  to  carry  the  news  to  Her  Majesty,  so  Prince  Tuan 
went  in  boldly,  and  informed  her  that  the  foreign  devils 
had  taken  the  city,  because  the  Boxers  had  been  negligent 
in  the  performance  of  their  prescribed  rites ;  Peking,  how- 
ever, would  always  be  perfectly  safe  from  invasion.  Early 
this  morning  Jung  Lu  had  informed  the  Old  Buddha  that 
he  had  ascertained  beyond  doubt  that  the  document,  which 
purported  to  come  from  the  Foreign  Ministers,  demanding 
her  abdication,  was  a  forgery.  It  had  been  prepared  by 
Lien  Wen-chung,  a  Secretary  of  the  Grand  Council,  at 
Prince  Tuan's  orders.  The  Old  Buddha  was  therefore  in 
no  soft  mood;  angrily  she  told  Prince  Tuan  that,  if  the 
foreigners  entered  Peking,  he  would  certainly  lose  his 
head.  She  was  quite  aware  of  his  motives ;  he  wanted  to 
secure  the  Regency,  but  she  bade  him  beware,  for,  so 
long  as  she  lived,  there  could  be  no  other  Regent.  "Let 
him  be  careful,  or  his  son  would  be  expelled  from  the 

^  How  well  and  successfully  she  did  it,  has  been  told  in  Miss  Catherine 
A.  Carl's  book,  IVz'^k  the  ETnpress  Dowas^er  of  China.  The  painting  of 
her  portrait  for  the  St.  Louis  Exhibition  was  in  itself  an  example  of  Tzii 
Hsi's  "cardinal  virtues  of  government,"  which  she  practised  with  con- 
spicuous success  on  the  simple-minded  wife  of  the  American  Minister, 
Mrs.  Conger.     {Vide  Cordier  :  Relations  de  la  Chine,  Vol.  III.,  p.  423.) 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    203 

palace,  and  the  family  estates  confiscated  to  the  Throne." 
His  actions  had  indeed  been  worthy  of  the  dog's  ^  name 
he  bore.  Prince  Tuan  left  the  palace,  and  was  heard  to 
remark  that  **the  thunderbolt  had  fallen  too  quickly  for 
him  to  close  his  ears." 

Jung  Lu  has  won  over  all  the  military  commanders 
except  Tung  Fu-hsiang  and  his  staff,  and  they  have  come 
to  a  general  understanding  that  the  bombardment  of  the 
Legations  must  cease.  Jung  Lu  has  explained,  as  his 
reason  for  not  allowing  the  heavy  artillery  to  be  used,  that 
it  would  inevitably  have  inflicted  serious  damage  on  the 
Imperial  shrines  and  the  Ancestral  temple. 

The  Old  Buddha  is  sending  presents  to  the  Legations, 
water-melons,  wine,  vegetables,  and  ice,  and  she  has  ex- 
pressed a  wish  that  Prince  Ch'ing  should  go  and  see  the 
Foreign  Ministers. 

They  say  that  Hsii  Ching-ch'eng  is  secretly  communicat- 
ing with  the  Legations. 

A  messenger  with  twelve  despatches  from  the  Legations 
was  captured  to-day  and  taken  to  Prince  Chuang's  palace. 
Three  of  the  twelve  were  in  cipher  and  could  not  be 
translated  by  the  Tsung-li  Yamen  interpreter,  but  from 
the  others  it  was  learned  that  the  foreigners  had  lost  over 
a  hundred  killed  and  wounded  and  that  their  provisions 
were  running  very  low. 

Chi  Shou-ch'eng  has  gone  to  T'ai  Yiian-fu  to  see  Yii 
Hsien,  his  father-in-law.  The  latter  has  memorialised  the 
Throne,  reporting  that  he  cunningly  entrapped  all  the 
foreigners,  cast  them  into  chains  and  had  every  one  decapi- 
tated in  his  Yamen.  Only  one  woman  had  escaped,  after 
her  breasts  had  been  cut  off,  and  had  hidden  herself  under 
the  city  wall.     She  was  dead  when  they  found  her. 

Rain  has  fallen  very  heavily  to-day.  Liu  Ta-chiao 
brought  me  8  lb.  of  pork  from  the  palace  kitchen,  and  I 
sent  a  large  bowl  of  it  to  my  married  sister.     Towards 

^  The  second  character  of  Prince  Tuan's  name  contained  the  radical 
sign  for  dog^  and  was  given  him  by  the  Emperor  Hsien-Feng,  because 
he  had  been  begotten  during  the  period  of  mourning  for  his  parent  Tao- 
Kuang  ;  it  being  an  offence,  under  Chinese  law,  for  a  son  to  be  begotten 
during  the  twenty-seven  months  of  mourning  for  father  or  mother. 


204    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

evening  a  detachment  of  cavalry,  with  several  guns,  passed 
my  door.  They  were  Li  Ping-heng's  men,  on  their  way 
to  mount  these  guns  on  a  platform  above  the  Forbidden 
City  wall,  as  a  precaution  against  sorties  by  the  foreigners. 
There  has  been  heavy  firing  all  night,  and  it  is  reported 
that  foreign  devils  have  been  seen  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  Ha-Ta  Men. 

2ist  Day  of  the  6th  Moon  (17th  July). — A  lovely  day.  I 
walked  over  to  call  on  Prince  Li  and  Duke  Lan.  The 
latest  rumour  is  that  Yii  Lu's  troops  are  in  flight  and 
harrying  the  country  side.  They  are  said  to  be  clamouring 
for  their  pay,  which  is  months  in  arrears,  and  have 
plundered  both  Tungchou  and  Chang  Chia-wan  most 
thoroughly.  Both  the  eastern  gates  of  the  City  are  now 
kept  closed,  and  the  northern  gate  (Anting  men)  is  only 
opened  occasionally. 

Yang  Shun,  the  gate-keeper,  has  returned  from  his 
home  at  Pao-ti-hsien,  east  of  Peking,  where  he  reports 
things  fairly  quiet. 

Li  Ping-heng's  troops  are  reported  to  have  won  a  great 
victory  and  driven  the  barbarians  to  the  sea.  Nevertheless, 
heavy  firing  was  heard  to  the  south-eastward  this  afternoon. 
Duke  Lan  has  gone  out  with  a  large  force  of  Boxers  to 
search  for  converts  reported  to  be  in  hiding  in  the  Temple 
of  the  Sun. 

2'jth  Day  of  the  6th  Moon  (23rd  July). — This  morning 
Yiian  Ch'ang  and  HsU  Ching-ch'eng  handed  in  the  third 
of  their  Memorials  against  the  Boxers,  in  which  they  recom- 
mend  the   execution  of   several    members   of   the   Grand 
Council.     Their  valour  seems  to  be  more  laudable  than 
their  discretion,  especially  as  the  Old  Buddha  is  disposed 
once  more  to  believe  in  the  Boxers  as  the  result  of  Li  Ping- 
heng's  audience  with  her  yesterday.     He  came  up  from 
Hankow,  and  has  now  been  appointed  joint  commander, 
with  Jung  Lu,  of  the  army  of  the  north.     He  confidently 
assured  her  of  his  ability  to  take  the  Legations  by  storm, 
and  repeatedly  said  that  never  again   would  the  tutelary 
deities  of  the  Dynasty  suffer  her  to  be  driven  forth,   in 
humiliation,  from  her  capital. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    205 

I  went  across  to  Duke  Lan's  house  this  morning  and 
found  Prince  Tuan  and  Li  Ping-heng  there.  They  were 
busy  planning  a  renewed  attack  on  the  Legations,  and  Li 
was  strongly  in  favour  of  mining  from  the  Han-lin  Academy 
side.  He  has  advised  the  Empress  Dowager  that  a  mine 
should  be  sprung,  as  was  done  lately  at  the  French 
Cathedral,  and  he  is  convinced  that  in  the  ensuing  con- 
fusion the  foreigners  would  be  easily  overwhelmed. 

After  reading  the  latest  Memorial  of  Hsii  and  Yiian,  the 
Old  Buddha  observed  :  *' These  are  brave  men.  I  have 
never  cared  much  for  Hsii,  but  Yiian  behaved  well  in  1898 
and  warned  me  about  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his  plotting.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  however,  they  have  no  business  to  worry 
me  with  these  persistent  and  querulous  questions.  The 
Throne  itself  is  fully  competent  to  judge  the  character  of 
its  servants,  and  it  is  a  gross  misconception  of  duty  for 
*  the  acolyte  to  stride  across  the  sacred  vessels  and  show 
the  priest  how  to  slaughter  the  sacrificial  beasts.'  ^  Desir- 
ing to  deal  leniently  with  the  Memorialists,  I  command  that 
my  censure  be  communicated  to  them  and  that  they  take 
heed  to  refrain  in  future  from  troubling  my  ears  with  their 
petulant  complainings." 

Srd  Day  of  the  yth  Moon  (28th  July).— The  Old  Buddha 
places  much  confidence  in  Li  Ping-heng.  Yesterday  he 
and  Kang  Yi  discovered  that  the  word  '*to  slay,"  in  Her 
Majesty's  Decree  ordering  the  extermination  of  all 
foreigners,  had  been  altered  to  "protect"  by  Yiian  Ch'ang 
and  Hsii  Ching-ch'eng.  I  have  just  seen  Kang  Yi,  and 
he  says  that  Her  Majesty's  face  was  divine  in  its  wrath. 
"They  deserve  the  punishment  meted  out  to  Kao  ch'u-mi,"  ^ 
she  said,  "their  limbs  should  be  torn  asunder  by  chariots 
driven  in  opposite  directions.  Let  them  be  summarily 
decapitated."  An  Edict  was  forthwith  issued,  but  no 
mention  is  made  in  it  of  the  alteration  of  the  Decree,  as  this 
is  a  matter  affecting  the  nation's  prestige;  the  offenders  are 

^  A  classical  allusion,  in  common  use,  equivalent  to  "  Ne  sutor  ultra 
crepidam." 

*  A  traitor  whose  crime  and  punishment  are  recorded  in  the  Spring  and 
Autumn  Annals. 


2o6    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

denounced  only  for  having  created  dissensions  in  the 
palace  and  favoured  the  cause  of  the  foreigner.  Both  were 
executed  this  morning;  my  son,  En  Ming,  witnessed  their 
death.  It  is  most  painful  to  me  to  think  of  the  end  of 
Yiian  Ch'ang,  for  he  had  many  sterling  qualities;  as  for 
HsU,  I  knew  him  in  the  days  when  we  were  colleagues  at 
the  Grand  Secretariat,  and  I  never  had  a  high  opinion  of 
the  man.  His  corruption  was  notorious.  Just  before  the 
sword  of  the  executioner  fell,  Yiian  remarked  that  "he 
hoped  that  the  Sun  might  soon  return  to  its  place  in  the 
Heaven,  and  that  the  usurping  Comet  might  be  destroyed." 
By  this  he  meant  that  Prince  Tuan's  malign  influence  had 
led  the  Empress  Dowager  to  act  against  her  own  better 
instincts.  Duke  Lan,  who  was  superintending  the  execu- 
tion, angrily  bade  him  be  silent  for  a  traitor,  but  Yiian 
fearlessly  went  on  :  "I  die  innocent.  In  years  to  come  my 
name  will  be  remembered  with  gratitude  and  respect,  long 
after  you  evil-plotting  Princes  have  met  your  well-deserved 
doom."  Turning  then  to  Hsii,  he  said:  "We  shall  meet 
anon  at  the  Yellow  Springs.^  To  die  is  only  to  come 
home."  Duke  Lan  stepped  forward  as  if  to  strike  him, 
and  the  headsman  quickly  despatched  them  both. 

8th  Day  of  the  yth  Moon  (3rd  August). — I  have  had 
much  trouble  with  my  eldest  son  to-day.  He  has  been 
robbing  me  lately  of  large  sums,  and  when  I  rebuked  him 
he  had  the  audacity  to  reply  that  my  duty  to  the  Throne 
would  make  my  suicide  a  fitting  return  for  the  benefits 
which  I  have  received  at  its  hands. 

Li  Ping-heng  has  gone  to  the  front  to  rally  the  troops 
and  check  the  foreigners'  advance.  He  has  impeached 
Jung  Lu  but  the  Old  Buddha  has  suppressed  the  Memorial. 
The  Emperor  thanked  Jung  Lu  for  his  services,  and  the 
Commander-in-Chief  replied  that  he  of  all  the  servants  of 
the  Throne  never  expected  to  receive  praise  from  His 
Majesty,  considering  the  events  of  the  past  two  years. ^ 

nth  Day  of  the  yth  Moon  (5th  August).— The  Old 
Buddha  has  commanded  Jung  Lu  to  arrange  for  escorting 

^  A  classical  expression,  meaning  the  Spirit-world. 
2  Referring  to  his  part  in  the  coup  d^etat  of  1898. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    207 

the  foreigners  to  Tientsin,  so  that  the  advance  of  the  Allies 
may  be  stopped.  In  this  connection,  I  hear  that  not  many 
days  ago,  Na  T'ung  persuaded  Ch'i  Hsiu  to  have  a  letter 
sent  to  the  Foreign  Ministers,  inviting  them  to  come, 
without  escort  of  troops,  to  an  interview  with  the  Tsung-li 
Yamen,  his  idea  being  to  have  them  all  massacred  on  the 
way.  Ch'i  Hsiu  thought  the  suggestion  excellent,  but, 
although  several  letters  have  been  sent  proposing  it,  the 
Ministers  decline  to  leave  the  Legations.  Meanwhile,  there 
have  been  several  fresh  attacks  on  the  Legations  during  the 
past  few  days. 

A  foreign  devil,  half  naked,  was  found  yesterday  in 
Hatamen  Street.  He  "ko-towed  "  to  everyone  he  met,  high 
class  or  low,  imploring  even  the  rag-pickers  to  spare  his 
life  and  give  him  a  few  cash.  **  We  shall  all  be  massacred 
soon,"  he  said,  **but  I  have  done  no  wrong."  One  of 
Jung  Lu's  sergeants  seized  him  and  took  him  to  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief's residence.  Instead  of  decapitating  him, 
Jung  Lu  sent  him  back.  This  shows,  however,  the 
desperate  straits  to  which  the  foreigners  are  reduced. 

i^th  Day  of  the  yth  Moon  (9th  August). — Bad  news  from 
the  South.  Yii  Lu's  forces  have  been  defeated  and  the 
foreigners  are  approaching  nearer  every  day.  The  Old 
Buddha  is  meditating  flight  to  Jehol,  but  Jung  Lu  strongly 
urges  her  to  remain,  even  if  the  Allies  should  enter  the 
city.  Duke  Lan  scoffs  at  the  idea  of  their  being  able  to  do 
so.  One  comfort  is  that,  if  they  do  come,  they  will  not  loot 
or  kill.  I  remember  well  how  good  their  discipline  was 
forty  years  ago.  I  never  stirred  out  of  my  house  and  not 
one  of  the  barbarians  ever  came  near  it.  We  had  a  little 
difficulty  about  getting  victuals,  but  the  foreigners  hardly 
came  into  the  city,  and  did  us  no  harm. 

i6th  Day  of  the  yth  Moon  (loth  August). — My  old 
colleague,  Li  Shan,  whose  house  adjoins  the  French 
Cathedral,  has  been  accused  of  making  a  subterranean 
passage  and  thus  assisting  the  foreigners  with  supplies. 
He  has  been  handed  over  to  the  Board  of  Punishments  by 
Prince  Tuan,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  Empress 
Dowager,   together  with   Hsii  Yung-yi  and   Lien   Yuan. 


2o8    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Prince  Tuan  has  long  had  a  grudge  against  Hsii  for  having 
expressed  disapproval  of  the  selection  of  the  Heir  Appar- 
ent. As  to  Lien,  they  say  that  his  arrest  is  due  to  Na 
T*ung,  and  his  offence  is  that  he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy 
with  Yiian  Ch'ang.  All  three  prisoners  were  decapitated 
this  morning.  Hsii  Yung-yi  was  older  than  I  am  (seventy- 
nine)  and  his  death  is  a  lamentable  business  indeed.  But 
he  went  to  his  death  calmly  and  without  complaint  when  he 
learned  that  the  Empress  Dowager  knew  nothing  of  the 
matter  and  that  it  was  Prince  Tuan's  doing  alone.  "The 
power  of  the  usurper,"  said  he,  "is  short-lived.  As  for 
me,  I  am  glad  to  die  before  the  foreigners  take  Peking." 
The  Old  Buddha  will  be  very  wroth  when  she  hears  that 
two  Manchus  have  thus  been  put  to  death.  Li  Shan  and 
Jung  Lu  were  old  friends. 

A  certain  General  Liu,  from  Shansi,  assured  the  Empress 
this  morning  that  he  would  undertake  to  demolish  the 
Legations  in  three  days,  and  this  would  so  alarm  the  Allies 
that  their  advance  would  certainly  be  stopped.  A  furious 
bombardment  has  just  begun. 

The  Boxers  have  proved  themselves  utterly  useless.  I 
always  said  they  never  would  do  anything. 

iSth  Day  of  the  yth  Moon  (12th  August). — The  foreigners 
are  getting  nearer  and  nearer.  Yii  Lu  shot  himself  with  a 
revolver  on  the  12th  at  Ts'ai  Ts'un.  He  had  taken  refuge 
in  a  coffin  shop,  of  all  ill-omened  places  !  His  troops  had 
been  utterly  routed  thrice,  at  Pei  Ts'ang,  Yang  Ts'un  and 
at  Ts'ai  Ts'un.  Li  Ping-heng  reached  Ho-hsi-wu  on  the 
14th,  but  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts  to  rally  our  forces,  the 
two  divisional  leaders,  Chang  Ch'un-fa  and  Ch'en  Tse-lin, 
refused  to  fight.  Li  Ping-heng  therefore  took  poison. 
Jung  Lu  went  to-day  to  break  the  news  to  the  Old  Buddha  : 
Sovereign  and  Minister  wept  together  at  the  disasters  which 
these  Princes  and  rebels  have  brought  upon  our  glorious 
Empire.  Jung  Lu  refrained  from  any  attempt  at  self- 
justification;  he  is  a  wise  man.  The  Old  Buddha  said  she 
would  commit  suicide  and  make  the  Emperor  do  the  same, 
rather  than  leave  her  capital.  Jung  Lu  besought  her  to 
take  his  advice,  which  was  to  remain  in  Peking  and  to 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    209 

issue  Decrees  ordering  the  decapitation  of  Prince  Tuan 
and  his  followers,  thus  proving  her  innocence  to  the  world. 
But  she  seems  to  cling  still  to  a  hope  that  the  supernatural 
powers  of  the  Boxers  may  save  Peking,  and  so  the  furious 
bombardment  of  the  Legations  continues. 

Eight  audiences  have  been  given  to-day  to  Jung  Lu  and 
five  to  Prince  Tuan.  All  the  other  members  of  the  Grand 
Council  sat  with  folded  hands,  suggesting  nothing. 

20th  Day  (14th  August),  5  P.M. — T'ungchou  has  fallen 
and  now  the  foreigners  have  begun  to  bombard  the  city. 
The  Grand  Council  has  been  summoned  to  five  meetings 
to-day  in  the  Palace  of  Peaceful  Longevity :  Her  Majesty 
is  reported  to  be  starting  for  Kalgan.  At  the  hour  of  the 
Monkey  (4  p.m.)  Duke  Lan  burst  into  the  Palace,  unan- 
nounced, and  shouted,  "Old  Buddha,  the  foreign  devils 
have  come  !  '*  Close  upon  his  footsteps  came  Kang  Yi, 
who  reported  that  a  large  force  of  turbaned  soldiery  were 
encamped  in  the  enclosure  of  the  Temple  of  Heaven. 
"  Perhaps  they  are  our  Mahommedan  braves  from  Kansuh," 
said  Her  Majesty,  "come  to  demolish  the  Legations?" 
"No,"  replied  Kang  Yi,  "they  are  foreign  devils.  Your 
Majesty  must  escape  at  once,  or  they  will  murder  you." 

Later,  midnight. — There  has  just  been  an  Audience 
given  to  the  Grand  Council  in  the  Palace,  at  which  Kang 
Yi,  Chao  Shu-ch'iao  and  Wang  Wen-shao  were  present. 
"Where  are  the  others  ?  "  said  the  Old  Buddha.  " Gone,  I 
suppose,  everyone  to  his  own  home,  leaving  us  here, 
Mother  and  Son,^  to  look  after  ourselves  as  best  we  may. 
At  all  events,  you  three  must  now  accompany  me  on  my 
journey."  Turning  to  Wang  Wen-shao,  she  added : 
"You  are  too  old,  and  I  could  not  bear  the  thought  of 
exposing  you  to  such  hardships.  Make  such  speed  as  you 
can  and  join  me  later."  Then  to  the  other  two  she  said : 
"You  two  are  good  riders.  It  will  be  your  duty  never  to 
lose  sight  of  me  for  an  instant."  Wang  Wen-shao  replied  : 
"I  will  hasten  after  Your  Majesty  to  the  best  of  my 
ability."  The  Emperor,  who  seemed  surprisingly  alert 
and  vigorous,  here  joined  in  :  "Yes,  by  all  means,  follow 
^  The  Emperor  was  her  adopted  son. 
P 


210    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

as  quickly  as  you  can."  This  ended  the  audience,  but  the 
actual  hour  of  Her  Majesty's  departure  remains  uncertain. 
Jung  Lu's  attendance  was  impossible  because  he  was  busy 
trying  to  rally  our  forces. 

2ist  Day  (15th  August). — When  Lien  tells  me  that  the 
Old  Buddha  arose  this  morning  at  the  Hour  of  the  Tiger 
(3  A.M.)  after  only  an  hour's  rest,  and  dressed  herself 
hurriedly  in  the  common  blue  cloth  garments  of  a  peasant 
woman,  which  she  had  ordered  to  be  prepared.  For  the 
first  time  in  her  life,  her  hair  was  done  up  in  the  Chinese 
fashion.  "Who  could  ever  have  believed  that  it  would 
come  to  this?"  she  said.  Three  common  carts  were 
brought  into  the  palace ;  their  drivers  wore  no  official  hats. 

All  the  Concubines  were  summoned  to  appear  before 
Her  Majesty  at  3.30  a.m.;  she  had  previously  issued  a 
decree  that  none  of  them  would  accompany  her  for  the 
present.  The  Pearl  Concubine,  who  had  always  been 
insubordinate  to  the  Old  Buddha,  came  with  the  rest  and 
actually  dared  to  suggest  that  the  Emperor  should  remain 
in  Peking.  The  Empress  was  in  no  mood  for  argument. 
Without  a  moment's  hesitation,  she  shouted  to  the  eunuchs 
on  duty  :  "Throw  this  wretched  minion  down  the  well !  " 
At  this  the  Emperor,  who  was  greatly  grieved,  fell  on  his 
knees  in  supplication,  but  the  Empress  angrily  bade  him 
desist,  saying  that  this  was  no  time  for  bandying  words. 
"Let  her  die  at  once,"  she  said,  "as  a  warning  to  all  unduti- 
ful  children,  and  to  those  *  hsiao  *  birds  ^  who,  when 
fledged,  peck  out  their  own  mother's  eyes."  So  the 
eunuchs  Li  and  Sung  took  the  Pearl  Concubine  and  cast 
her  down  the  large  well  which  is  just  outside  the  Ning 
Shou  Palace. 

Then  to  the  Emperor,  who  stood  trembling  with  grief 
and  wrath,  she  said  :  "  Get  into  your  cart  and  hang  up  the 
screen,  so  that  you  be  not  recognised  "  (he  was  wearing  a 
long  gown  of  black  gauze  and  black  cloth  trousers). 
Swiftly  then  the  Old  Buddha  gave  her  orders.  "P'u  Lun, 
you  will  ride  on  the  shaft  of  the  Emperor's  cart  and  look 
after  him.  I  shall  travel  in  the  other  cart,  and  you,  P'u 
^  A  species  of  owl — classical  reference. 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    211 


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Pi- 


212    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Chiin  (the  Heir  Apparent)  will  ride  on  the  shaft.  Li  Lien- 
ying,  I  know  you  are  a  poor  rider,  but  you  must  shift  as 
best  you  can  to  keep  up  with  us."  At  this  critical  moment 
it  seemed  as  if  the  Old  Buddha  alone  retained  her  presence 
of  mind.  "Drive  your  hardest,"  she  said  to  the  carters, 
"and  if  any  foreign  devil  should  stop  you,  say  nothing. 
I  will  speak  to  them  and  explain  that  we  are  but  poor 
country  folk,  fleeing  to  our  homes.  Go  first  to  the  Summer 
Palace."  Thereupon  the  carts  started,  passing  out  through 
the  northern  gate  of  the  palace  (The  Gate  of  Military 
Prowess)  while  all  the  members  of  the  Household  and  the 
Imperial  Concubines  prostrated  themselves,  wishing  Their 
Majesties  a  long  life.  Only  the  three  Grand  Councillors 
followed  on  horseback,  a  rendezvous  having  been  arranged 
for  other  officials  at  the  Summer  Palace.  My  neighbour 
Wen  Lien,  the  Comptroller  of  the  Household,  followed 
Their  Majesties  at  a  distance,  to  see  them  safely  out  of  the 
city.  They  left  by  the  "Te-sheng-Men,"  or  Gate  of 
Victory,  on  the  north-west  side  of  the  city,  where  for  a 
time  their  carts  were  blocked  in  the  dense  mass  of  refugees 
passing  out  that  way. 

4  P.M. — The  Sacred  Chariot  of  Her  Majesty  reached  the 
Summer  Palace  at  about  8  a.m.  and  Their  Majesties  re- 
mained there  an  hour.  Meanwhile,  at  6  a.m..  Prince 
Ch'ing,  just  before  starting  for  the  Summer  Palace,  sent 
a  flag  of  truce  to  the  Japanese  Pigmies  who  were  bom- 
barding the  city  close  to  the  "Ch'i  Hua  "  gate  on  the  east 
of  the  city.  The  gate  was  thrown  open  and  the  troops 
swarmed  in. 

My  son  En  Ming  was  on  duty  at  the  Summer  Palace 
with  a  few  of  his  men,  when  the  Imperial  party  arrived,  all 
bedraggled  and  dust-begrimed.  The  soldiers  at  the  palace 
gate  could  not  believe  that  this  was  really  their  Imperial 
mistress  until  the  Old  Buddha  angrily  asked  whether  they 
failed  to  recognise  her.  The  carts  were  driven  in  through 
the  side  entrance,  and  tea  was  served.  Her  Majesty  gave 
orders  that  all  curios,  valuables,  and  ornaments  were  to 
be  packed  at  once  and  sent  off  to  Jehol ;  at  the  same  time 
she  despatched  one  of  the  eunuchs  to  Peking  to  tell  the 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN     213 

Empress  ^  to  bury  quickly  every  scrap  of  treasure  in  the 
Forbidden  City,  hiding  it  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Ning 
Shou  Palace. 

The  Princes  Tuan,  Ching,  Na,  and  Su  joined  Their 
Majesties  at  the  Summer  Palace ;  a  few  Dukes  were  there 
also,  as  well  as  Wu  Shu-mei  and  Pu  Hsing  of  the  higher 
officials.  About  a  dozen  Secretaries  from  the  different 
Boards,  and  three  Clerks  to  the  Grand  Council,  accom- 
panied the  Court  from  this  point.  General  Ma  Yu-k'un, 
with  a  force  of  1000  men  escorted  Their  Majesties  to  Kal- 
gan,  and  there  were,  in  addition,  several  hundreds  of  Prince 
Tuan's  "Heavenly  Tiger"  Bannermen,  fresh  from  their 
fruitless  attacks  on  the  Legations.  Jung  Lu  is  still 
endeavouring  to  rally  his  troops. 

I  have  just  heard  of  the  death  of  my  old  friend,  HsU 
T*ung,  the  Imperial  Tutor  and  Grand  Secretary.  He  has 
hanged  himself  in  his  house  and  eighteen  of  his  women- 
folk have  followed  his  example.  He  was  a  true  patriot 
and  a  fine  scholar.  Alas,  alas  I  From  all  sides  I  hear  the 
same  piteous  story ;  the  proudest  of  the  Manchus  have  come 
to  the  same  miserable  end.  The  betrothed  of  Prince  Ch'un, 
whom  he  was  to  have  married  next  month,  has  committed 
suicide,  with  all  her  family.     It  is  indeed  pitiful.^ 

Thus,  for  the  second  time  in  her  life,  the  Old  Buddha 
has  had  to  flee  from  her  Sacred  City,  like  the  Son  of 
Heaven  in  the  Chou  Dynasty,  who  "fled  with  dust-covered 
head."  The  failure  of  the  southern  provinces  to  xoin  in  the 
enterprise  has  ruined  us.  Prince  Tuan  was  much  to  blame 
in  being  anti-Chinese.  As  Confucius  said:  "By  the  lack 
of  broad-minded  tolerance  in  small  matters,  a  great  design 
has  been  frustrated."  After  all,  Jung  Lu  was  right — the 
Boxers'  so-called  magic  was  nothing  but  child's  talk. 
They  were  in  reality  no  stronger  than  autumn  thistledown. 
Alas,  the  bright  flower  of  spring  does  not  bloom  twice  I 

My  wife  and  the  other  women,  stupidly  obstinate  like 

1  Consort  of  Kuang-Hsii,  later  Empress  Dowager,  known  by  the 
honorific  title  of  Lung-yii. 

*  Prince  Ch'un  subsequently  married  Jung  Lu's  daughter,  by  special 
command  of  the  Empress  Dowager. 


214    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

all  females,  intend  to  take  opium.  I  cannot  prevent  them 
from  doing  so,  but,  for  myself,  I  have  no  intention  of 
doing  anything  so  foolish.  Already  the  foreign  brigands 
are  looting  in  other  quarters  of  the  city,  but  they  will  never 
find  my  hidden  treasure,  and  I  shall  just  remain  here,  old 
and  feeble  as  I  am.  My  son.  En  Ch'un,  has  disappeared 
since  yesterday,  and  nearly  all  my  servants  have  fled. 
There  is  no  one  to  prepare  my  evening  meal. 

(Here  the  Diary  ends.  The  old  man  was  murdered  by 
his  eldest  son  that  same  evening;  all  his  women-folk  had 
previously  taken  poison  and  died,) 

Vermilion  Decree  of  H.M,  Kuang  HsU,  2^th  day,    12th 

Moon  of  2Sth  year  (24th  January,  1900),  making  Prince 

Tuan's  son  Heir  Apparent, 

"  In  days  of  our  tender  infancy  we  succeeded  by  adoption  to 
the  Great  Inheritance,  and  were  favoured  by  the  Empress 
Dowager,  who  graciously  *  suspended  the  curtain  '  and  admini- 
stered the  Government  as  Regent,  earnestly  labouring  the 
while  at  our  education  in  all  matters.  Since  we  assumed  the 
reins  of  government,  the  nation  has  passed  through  severe 
crises,  and  our  sole  desire  has  been  to  govern  the  Empire  wisely 
in  order  to  requite  the  maternal  benevolence  of  Her  Majesty 
as  well  as  to  fulfil  the  arduous  task  imposed  on  us  by  His  late 
Majesty. 

"But  since  last  year  our  constitution  has  been  sore-stricken 
with  illness,  and  we  have  undergone  much  anxiety  lest  the 
business  of  the  State  should  suffer  in  consequence.  Reflecting 
on  the  duty  we  owe  to  our  sacred  ancestors  and  to  the  Empire, 
we  have  therefore  besought  Her  Majesty  to  administer  the 
Government  during  the  past  year.  Our  sickness  has  so  far 
shown  no  signs  of  improvement,  and  it  has  prevented  us  from 
performing  all  the  important  sacrifices  at  the  ancestral  shrines 
and  at  the  altars  of  the  gods  of  the  soil. 

"  And  now  at  this  acute  crisis,  the  spectacle  of  Her  Majesty, 
labouring  without  cease  in  the  profound  seclusion  of  her  palace, 
without  relaxation  or  thought  of  rest,  has  filled  us  with  dismay. 
We  can  neither  sleep  nor  eat  in  the  anxiety  of  our  thoughts. 
Reflecting  on  the  arduous  labours  of  our  ancestors  from  whom 
this  great  Heritage  has  descended  to  us,  we  are  overwhelmed 
by  our  unfitness  for  this  task  of  government.  We  bear  in  mind 
(and  the  fact  is  well  known  to  all  our  subjects)  that  when  first 


I 


DIARY  OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY  CHING  SHAN    215 

we  succeeded  by  adoption  to  the  Throne,  we  were  honoured 
with  a  Decree  from  the  Empress  Dowager  to  the  effect  that  so 
soon  as  we  should  have  begotten  an  heir,  he  should  become  the 
adopted  son  of  His  Majesty  T'ung-Chih.  But  our  protracted 
sickness  renders  it  impossible  for  us  to  hope  for  a  son,  so  that 
His  late  Majesty  remains  without  heir.  This  question  of  the 
succession  is  of  transcendent  importance,  and  our  grief,  as  we 
ponder  the  situation,  fills  us  with  feelings  of  the  deepest  self- 
abasement,  and  renders  illusive  all  hope  of  our  recovery  from 
this  sickness. 

"We  have  accordingly  prostrated  ourselves  in  supplication 
before  our  Sacred  Mother,  begging  that  she  may  be  pleased  to 
select  some  worthy  person  from  among  the  Princes  of  the 
Blood  as  heir  to  His  Majesty  T'ung-Chih,  in  order  that  the 
Great  Inheritance  may  duly  revert  to  him.  As  the  result  of  our 
repeated  entreaties  Her  Majesty  has  graciously  consented,  and 
has  appointed  P'u  Chiin,  son  of  Prince  Tuan,  as  heir  by 
adoption  to  His  late  Majesty.  Our  gratitude  at  this  is  un- 
bounded, and  reverently  we  obey  her  behests,  hereby  appointing 
P'u  Chiin  to  be  Heir  Apparent  and  successor  to  the  Throne. 
Let  this  Decree  be  made  known  throughout  the  Empire." 

Seldom  has  history  seen  so  tragically  pathetic  a  docu- 
ment. It  was  not  only  a  confession  of  his  own  illegality 
and  an  abdication,  but  his  death-warrant,  clear  writ  for  all 
men  to  read.  And  the  poor  victim  must  perforce  thank 
his  executioner  and  praise  the  "maternal  benevolence"  of 
the  woman  whose  uncontrollable  love  of  power  had 
wrecked  his  life  from  the  cradle. 

Memorial  from  the  Censorate  at  Peking  to  the  Throne  at 

Hsi-an,  describing  the  arrest  of  En  Hai,  the  murderer  of 

the  German  Minister,  Baron  von  Ketteler,^ 


This  Memorial  affords  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
sympathy  which  animated,  and  still  animates,  many  of 
those  nearest  to  the  Throne  in  regard  to  the  Boxers  and 
their  anti-foreign  crusade,  and  their  appreciation  of  the 
real  sentiments  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  even  in  defeat. 

^  This  Memorial  was  never  published  officially,  and  Tzu  Hsi  refrained 
from  issuing  a  Rescript  thereto  ;  it  was  forwarded  by  an  official  with  the 
Court  at  Hsi-an  to  one  of  the  vernacular  papers  at  Shanghai,  which 
published  it. 


2i6     CHINA  UNDER  THE   EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

It  also  throws  light  on  the  Chinese  official's  idea  of  heroism 
in  a  soldier. 

"A  spy  in  Japanese  employ,  engaged  in  searching  for  looted 
articles  in  the  pawnshops  of  the  district  in  Japanese  military 
occupation,  found  among  the  unredeemed  pledges  in  one  shop 
a  watch  bearing  Baron  von  Ketteler's  monogram.  The  pawn- 
broker said  that  it  had  been  pledged  by  a  Bannerman  named 
En  Hai,  who  lived  at  a  carter's  inn  of  the  Tartar  city.  This 
spy  was  a  man  named  Te  Lu,  a  writer  attached  to  the  Manchu 
Field  Force,  of  the  8th  squad  of  the  *  Ting  '  Company.  He 
went  at  once  and  informed  the  Japanese,  who  promptly  sent  a 
picquet  to  the  inn  mentioned.  Two  or  three  men  were  standing 
about  in  the  courtyard,  and  the  soldiers  asked  one  of  them 
whether  En  Hai  was  there.  *  I'm  the  man,'  said  he,  whereupon 
they  took  him  prisoner.  Under  examination.  En  was  perfectly 
calm  and  showed  no  sort  of  emotion.  The  presiding  Magistrate 
enquired:  '  Was  it  you  who  slew  the  German  Minister?  '  He 
replied :  *  I  received  orders  from  my  Sergeant  to  kill  every 
foreigner  that  came  up  the  street.  I  am  a  soldier,  and  I  only 
know  it  is  my  duty  to  obey  orders.  On  that  day  I  was  with 
my  men,  some  thirty  of  them,  in  the  street,  when  a  foreigner 
came  along  in  a  sedan  chair.  At  once  I  took  up  my  stand  a 
little  to  the  side  of  the  street,  and,  taking  careful  aim,  fired 
into  the  chair.  Thereupon  the  bearers  fled  :  we  went  up  to  the 
cihair,  dragged  the  foreigner  out,  and  saw  that  he  was  dead. 
I  felt  a  watch  in  his  breast  pocket  and  took  it  as  my  lawful 
share ;  my  comrades  appropriated  a  revolver,  some  rings  and 
other  articles.  I  never  thought  that  this  watch  would  lead  to 
my  detection,  but  I  am  glad  to  die  for  having  killed  one  of  the 
enemies  of  my  country.     Please  behead  me  at  once.' 

"The  interpreter  asked  him  whether  he  was  drunk  at  the 
time.  He  laughed  and  said,  '  Wine's  a  fine  thing,  and  I  can 
put  away  four  or  five  catties  at  a  time,  but  that  day  I  had  not 
touched  a  drop.  Do  you  suppose  I  would  try  to  screen  myself 
on  the  score  of  being  in  liquor?  '  This  En  Hai  appears  to 
have  been  an  honest  fellow ;  his  words  were  brave  and  dignified, 
so  that  the  bystanders  all  realised  that  China  is  not  vv^ithout 
heroes  in  the  ranks  of  her  army.  On  the  following  day  he  was 
handed  over  to  the  Germans,  and  beheaded  on  the  scene  of  his 
exploit.  We,  your  Memorialists,  feel  that  Your  Majesties 
should  be  made  acquainted  with  his  meritorious  behaviour,  and 
we  therefore  report  the  above  facts.  We  are  of  opinion  that 
his  name  should  not  be  permitted  to  fall  into  oblivion,  and  we 
trust  that  Your  Majesties  may  be  pleased  to  confer  upon  him 
honours  as  in  the  case  of  one  who  has  fallen  in  battle  with  his 
face  to  the  foe.** 


XV 

THE   FLIGHT   FROM   PEKING   AND  THE   COURT  IN   EXILE 

The  diarist,  Ching  Shan,  has  described  in  detail  the 
flight  of  the  Empress  Dowager  and  Emperor  from  Peking, 
before  dawn,  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  August.  From 
an  account  of  the  Court's  journey,  subsequently  written 
by  the  Grand  Secretary,  Wang  Wen-shao,  to  friends 
in  Chekiang,  and  published  in  one  of  the  vernacular 
papers  of  Shanghai,  we  obtain  valuable  corroboration 
of  the  diarist's  accuracy,  together  with  much  interesting 
information. 

Wang  Wen-shao  overtook  Their  Majesties  at  Huai-lai  on 
the  1 8th  August,*  for  the  past  three  days  they  had  suffered 
dangers  and  hardships  innumerable.  On  the  evening  of 
the  19th  they  had  stopped  at  Kuanshih  (seventy  li  from 
Peking),  where  they  slept  in  the  Mosque.  There  the 
Mahommedan  trading  firm  of  "  Tung  Kuang  yii "  (the 
well-known  contractors  for  the  hire  of  pack  animals  for 
the  northern  caravan  trade)  had  supplied  them  with  the 
best  of  the  poor  food  available — coarse  flour,  vegetables, 
and  millet  porridge — and  had  provided  mule  litters  for 
the  next  stage  of  the  journey.  As  the  troops  of  the  escort 
had  been  ordered  to  remain  at  some  distance  behind,  so 
long  as  there  was  any  risk  of  pursuit  by  the  Allies'  cavalry, 
Their  Majesties' arrival  was  unannounced,  and  their  identity 
unsuspected.  As  they  descended  from  their  carts,  travel- 
stained,  weary,  and  distressed,  they  were  surrounded  by  a 
large  crowd  of  refugee  idlers  and  villagers,  eager  for  news 
from  the  capital.  An  eye-witness  of  the  scene  has  reported 
that,  looking  nervously  about  him,  the  Emperor  said, 
"We  have  to  thank  the  Boxers  for  this,"  whereupon  the 
Old  Buddha,  undaunted  even  at  the  height  of  her  misfor- 
tunes, bade  him  be  silent. 

217 


2i8    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Next  day  they  travelled,  by  mule  litter,  ninety  li  (thirty- 
two  miles)  and  spent  the  night  at  Ch'a-Tao,  just  beyond 
the  Great  Wall.  Here  no  preparations  of  any  kind  had 
been  made  for  their  reception,  and  they  suffered  much 
hardship,  sleeping  on  the  brick  platform  (k'ang)  without 
any  adequate  bedding.  But  the  Magistrate  of  Yen-Ch*ing 
chou  had  been  able  to  find  a  blue  sedan-chair  for  Her 
Majesty,  who  had  thus  travelled  part  of  the  day  in  greater 
comfort.  Also  at  midday,  stopping  to  eat  at  Chii-yung 
kuan,  Li  Lien-ying,  the  chief  eunuch,  had  obtained  a  few 
teacups  from  the  villagers. 

On  the  i6th  they  travelled  from  Ch*a-Tao  to  Huai-lai, 
a  hard  stage  of  fifty  li.  Some  of  the  officials  and  Chamber- 
lains of  the  Court  now  joined  Their  Majesties,  so  that  the 
party  consisted  of  seventeen  carts,  in  addition  to  the  Old 
Buddha's  palanquin  and  the  Emperor's  mule  litter.  As 
the  cortege  advanced,  and  the  news  of  their  flight  was 
spread  abroad,  rumours  began  to  be  circulated  that  they 
were  pretenders,  personating  the  Son  of  Heaven  and  the 
Old  Buddha,  rumours  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  Her 
Majesty  was  still  wearing  her  hair  in  the  Chinese  manner, 
and  that  her  clothes  were  the  common  ones  in  which  she 
had  escaped  from  the  Forbidden  City.  In  spite  of  these 
rumours  the  Magistrate  of  Huai-lai,  a  Hupeh  man  (Wu 
Yung),  had  received  no  intimation  of  Their  Majesties' 
coming,  and,  when  the  Imperial  party,  accompanied  by 
an  enormous  crowd,  entered  his  Yamen,  he  had  no  time 
to  put  on  his  official  robes,  but  rushed  down  to  receive 
them  as  he  was.  After  prostrating  himself,  he  wanted  to 
clear  out  the  noisy  and  inquisitive  rabble,  but  the  Old 
Buddha  forbade  him,  saying:  "Not  so;  let  them  crowd 
around  us  as  much  as  they  like.  It  amuses  me  to  see  these 
honest  country  folk."  Here,  after  three  days  of  coarse  fare, 
the  Empress  Dowager  rejoiced  once  more  in  a  meal  of 
birds'-nest  soup  and  sharks'  fins,  presented  by  the  Magis- 
trate, who  also  furnished  her  with  an  outfit  of  woman's 
clothing  and  suits  for  the  Emperor  and  the  Heir  Apparent, 
for  all  of  which  he  received  Her  Majesty's  repeated  and 
grateful  thanks. 


THE  FLIGHT  FROM  PEKING  219 

It  was  here,  at  Huai-lai,  while  the  Court  was  taking  a 
day's  rest,  that  Wang  Wen-shao  came  up  with  them.  He 
was  cordially,  even  affectionately,  greeted  by  the  Old 
Buddha,  who  condoled  with  him  on  the  hardships  to  which 
he  had  been  exposed,  and  insisted  on  his  sharing  her  birds'- 
nest  soup,  which,  she  said,  he  would  surely  enjoy  as  much 
as  she  had  done  after  so  many  and  great  privations.  She 
rebuked  the  Emperor  for  not  greeting  the  aged  Councillor 
with  warm  thanks  for  his  touching  devotion  to  the  Throne. 

From  Huai-lai,  Prince  Ch'ing  was  ordered  to  return  to 
Peking  to  negotiate  terms  of  peace  with  the  Allies.  Know- 
ing the  difficulties  of  this  task,  he  went  reluctantly ;  before 
leaving  he  had  a  long  audience  with  Her  Majesty,  who 
assured  him  of  her  complete  confidence  in  his  ability  to 
make  terms,  and  bade  him  adopt  a  policy  similar  to  that  of 
Prince  Kung  in  i860. 

Wang  Wen-shao 's  account  of  the  first  part  of  the 
Court's  journey  is  sufficiently  interesting  to  justify  textual 
reproduction. 

"Their  Majesties  fled  from  the  palace  at  the  dawn  of  day  in 
common  carts.  It  was  only  after  their  arrival  at  Kuan-shih  that 
they  were  provided  with  litters.  The  Emperor  and  Prince  Pu' 
Lun  rode  on  one  cart  until  their  arrival  at  Huai-lai,  where  the 
District  Magistrate  furnished  a  palanquin,  and  later  on,  at 
Hsiian-hua,  four  large  sedan  chairs  were  found  for  the  Imperial 
party.  It  was  at  this  point  that  the  Emperor's  Consort  over- 
took Their  Majesties. 

"So  hurried  was  the  flight  that  no  spare  clothes  had  been 
taken;  the  Empress  Dowager  was  very  shabbily  dressed,  so  as 
to  be  almost  unrecognisable,  the  Chinese  mode  of  hair-dressing 
producing  a  very  remarkable  alteration  in  her  appearance.  On 
the  first  night  after  leaving  Peking,  they  slept,  like  travellers 
of  the  lowest  class,  on  the  raised  brick  platform  of  the  inn, 
where  not  even  rice  was  obtainable  for  the  evening  meal,  so  that 
they  were  compelled  to  eat  common  porridge  made  of  millet. 
In  all  the  disasters  recorded  in  history,  never  has  there  been 
such  a  pitiful  spectacle. 

"  It  was  only  after  reaching  Huai-lai  that  their  condition 
improved  somewhat,  but  even  then  the  number  of  personal 
attendants  and  eunuchs  was  very  small,  and  not  a  single  con- 
cubine was  there  to  wait  upon  the  Old  Buddha.  For  the  first 
few  days'  flight,  neither  Prince  Li,  nor  Jung  Lu,  nor  Ch'i  Hsiu 


220    CHINA   UNDER   THE   EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

(all  of  them  Grand  Councillors),  were  in  attendance  so  that  Her 
Majesty  nominated  Prince  Tuan  to  serve  on  the  Council.  She 
reviled  him  at  the  outset  severely,  reproaching  him  for  the 
misfortunes  which  had  overtaken  the  Dynasty,  but  as  time  went 
on,  as  he  shared  with  her  the  privations  and  troubles  of  the  day's 
journey,  she  became  more  gracious  towards  him.  This  was  to 
some  extent  due  to  the  very  great  influence  which  Prince  Tuan's 
wife  exercised  at  Court. 

"When  I  reached  Huai-lai,  the  Court  consisted  of  the  Princes 
Tuan,  Ch'ing,  Na,  Su,  and  P'u  Lun,  with  a  following  of  high 
officials  led  by  Kang  Yi,  and  some  twenty  Secretaries.  General 
Ma's  troops  and  some  of  the  Banner  Corps  of  Prince  Tuan 
formed  the  Imperial  escort;  and  they  plundered  every  town  and 
village  on  their  line  of  march.  This,  however,  is  hardly  remark- 
able, because  all  the  shops  had  been  closed  and  there  were  no 
provisions  to  be  purchased  anywhere. 

*'  To  go  back  for  a  few  days.  Yii  Lu  (Viceroy  of  Chihli)  shot 
himself  in  a  coffin  shop  at  a  place  south  of  the  Hunting  Park, 
and  Li  Ping-heng  took  poison  after  the  defeat  of  his  troops 
at  T'ungchou.  The  Court's  flight  had  already  been  discussed 
after  the  first  advance  of  the  Allies  from  T'ungchou  towards 
Peking;  but  the  difficulty  in  providing  sufficient  transport  was 
considered  insuperable.  On  the  igth  of  the  Moon  a  steady 
cannonade  began  at  about  midnight,  and  from  my  house  in 
Magpie  Lane,  one  could  note,  by  the  volume  of  sound,  that  the 
attack  was  steadily  advancing  closer  to  the  city,  and  eventually 
bullets  came  whistling  as  thick  as  hail.  The  bombardment 
reached  its  height  at  about  noon  on  the  20th,  when  news  was 
brought  that  two  gates  of  the  Imperial  City  had  been  taken  by 
storm.  I  was  unable  to  verify  this  report.  It  was  my  turn 
for  night  duty  at  the  Palace,  but  after  the  last  audience,  I  was 
unable  to  enter  the  Forbidden  City,  as  all  its  gates  were  barred. 
It  was  only  at  7  a.m.  on  the  21st  inst.  (August  15th)  that  I  was 
able  to  gain  admittance  to  the  Forbidden  City,  and  then  I 
learned  that  Their  Majesties  had  hurriedly  fled.  On  the  previous 
day  five  urgent  audiences  with  the  Grand  Council  had  been  held ; 
at  the  last  of  these  only  Kang  Yi,  Chao  Shu-ch'iao,  and  myself 
were  present.  Sadly  regarding  us,  the  Old  Buddha  said,  *  I  see 
there  are  only  three  of  you  left.  No  doubt  all  the  rest  have  fled, 
leaving  us,  mother  and  son,  to  our  fate.  I  want  you  all  to 
Qome  with  me  on  my  journey.*  Turning  to  me  she  then  said, 
*  You  are  too  old.  I  would  not  wish  you  to  share  in  all  this 
hardship.  Follow  us  as  best  you  can  later  on.*  The  Emperor 
expressed  his  wishes  in  the  same  sense. 

"  By  this  time  it  was  nearly  midnight,  and  they  still  hesitated 
about  leaving  the  city ;  judge  then  of  my  surprise  to  learn  that, 
at  the  first  streak  of  dawn.  Their  Majesties  had  left  the  city  in 
indescribable  disorder  and  frantic  haste.     I  could  not  return  to 


THE  FLIGHT    FROM  PEKING  221 

my  house  that  day  because  all  the  gates  of  the  Imperial  City 
were  closed,  but  at  10  a.m.  on  the  following  day,  I  made  my  way 
out  of  the  Houmen.^  On  my  way  I  came  across  Jung  Lu ;  he 
had  fainted  in  his  chair,  and  had  been  forsaken  by  his  cowardly 
bearers.  He  said  :  *  This  is  the  end.  You  and  I  never  beHeved 
in  these  Boxers ;  see  now  to  what  a  pass  they  have  brought  the 
Old  Buddha.  If  you  see  Her  Majesty,  tell  her  that  I  have  gone 
to  rally  the  troops,  and  that,  if  I  live,  I  will  join  her  later  on. ' 

"After  leaving  Jung  Lu  I  made  my  way  to  a  little  temple 
which  lies  midway  between  the  North  and  the  North-West 
Gates  of  the  city,  and  there  I  rested  a  while.  It  was  the  opinion 
of  the  Abbot  in  charge  that  the  foreigners  would  burn  every 
temple  of  the  city,  as  all  of  them  had  been  used  by  the  Boxers 
for  their  magic  rites,  and  he  said  that,  in  times  of  dire  peril, 
such  as  this,  it  was  really  inconvenient  for  him  to  offer  any 
hospitality  to  visitors.  Just  at  this  moment  news  was  brought 
us  that  the  foreign  troops  were  on  the  wall  of  the  city,  between 
the  two  gates  nearest  to  us,  and  that  they  were  firing  down 
upon  the  streets  ;  the  city  was  already  invested,  but  the  foreigners 
were  not  molesting  civilians,  though  they  were  shooting  all 
*  braves  '  and  men  in  uniform.  As  the  priest  declined  to  receive 
me,  I  sought  refuge  at  the  house  of  a  man  named  Han,  retainer 
in  the  Imperial  Household,  who  lived  close  by.  All  my  chair- 
bearers  and  servants  had  fled.  Shortly  after  noon  I  heard  that 
one  might  still  leave  Peking  by  the  Hsi-chih  Men;  so  leaving 
everything — carts,  chairs,  and  animals — where  they  were,  I 
started  off  at  dusk  on  foot  with  such  money  and  clothing  as  I 
had  on  my  person.  The  road  ahead  of  me  was  blocked  by  a 
dense  crowd  of  refugees.  I  took  the  road  by  the  Drum  Tower, 
skirting  the  lakes  to  the  north  of  the  Imperial  City.  Towards 
evening  a  dreadful  thunderstorm  came  on,  so  I  took  refuge  for 
the  night  with  the  Ching  family.  The  bombardment  had  ceased 
by  this  time,  but  the  whole  northern  part  of  the  Imperial  City 
appeared  to  be  in  flames,  which  broke  out  in  fresh  places  all 
through  the  night.  At  three  in  the  morning  we  heard  that  the 
West  Gates  were  opened,  and  the  City  Guards  had  fled,  but 
that  the  foreigners  had  not  yet  reached  that  part  of  the  city. 

"  I  had  intended  to  travel  by  cart,  but  the  disorganised  troops 
had  by  this  time  seized  every  available  beast  of  burden.  My 
second  son,  however,  was  luckily  able  to  persuade  Captain  Liu 
to  fetch  one  of  my  carts  out  from  the  city,  and  this  was  done 
after  several  narrow  escapes.  I  had  left  Peking  on  foot,  but 
at  the  bridge  close  to  the  North-West  Gate  I  found  this  cart 
awaiting  me,  and  with  it  my  second  son,  who  was  riding  on  a 
mule,  and  the  five  servants  who  remained  to  us  following  on 
foot.     When  we  reached  Hai-Tien  (a  town  which  lies  close  to 

1  The  North  Gate  of  the  Imperial  City. 


222    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

the  Summer  Palace)  every  restaurant  was  closed,  but  we 
managed  to  get  a  little  food,  and  then  hurried  on  after  Their 
Majesties  to  Kuan-shih,  where  we  passed  the  night.  Next  day, 
continuing  our  journey,  we  learned  that  Their  Majesties  were 
halting  at  Huai-lai,  where  we  overtook  them  on  the  24th  day  of 
the  Moon.  We  expect  to  reach  T'ai-yiian  fu  about  the  middle 
of  next  week. 

"The  dangers  of  our  journey  are  indescribable.  Every  shop 
on  the  road  had  been  plundered  by  bands  of  routed  troops,  who 
pretend  to  be  part  of  the  Imperial  escort.  These  bandits  are 
ahead  of  us  at  every  stage  of  the  journey,  and  they  have  stripped 
the  country-side  bare,  so  that  when  the  Imperial  party  reaches 
any  place,  and  the  escort  endeavour  to  commandeer  supplies, 
the  distress  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  confusion  which  ensues 
are  really  terrible  to  witness.  The  districts  through  which  we 
have  passed  are  literally  devastated." 

From  Huai-lai  the  Court  moved  on  to  Hsuan-hua  fu,  a 
three  days'  march,  and  there  remained  for  four  days,  rest- 
ing and  preparing  for  the  journey  into  Shansi,  The 
Border  Warden  at  Sha-ho  chen  had  provided  Their 
Majesties  with  green  (official)  sedan-chairs,  and  the  usual 
etiquette  of  the  Court  and  Grand  Council  was  being 
gradually  restored.  Her  Majesty's  spirits  were  excellent, 
and  she  took  a  keen  interest  in  everything.  At  Chi-ming 
yi,  for  instance,  she  was  with  difficulty  dissuaded  from 
stopping  to  visit  a  temple  on  the  summit  of  an  adjoining 
hill,  in  honour  of  which  shrine  the  Emperor  Kangshi  had 
left  a  tablet  carved  with  a  memorial  inscription  in  verse. 

At  Hsiian-hua  fu  there  was  considerable  disorder,  but 
the  Court  enjoyed  increased  comforts;  thanks  to  the  zeal 
and  energy  of  the  local  Magistrate  (Ch'en  Pen).  Here  the 
Old  Buddha  received  Prince  Ch'ing's  first  despatch  from 
Peking,  which  gave  a  deplorable  account  of  the  situation. 

The  Court  left  Hsiian-hua  on  the  25th  August  (its 
numbers  being  increased  by  the  Emperor's  Consort  with  a 
few  of  her  personal  attendants)  and  spent  the  night  at  a 
garrison  station  called  Tso-Wei.  The  deplorable  state  of 
the  country  was  reflected  in  the  accommodation  they  found 
there ;  for  the  guards  had  fled,  and  the  official  quarters  had 
all  been  plundered  and  burnt,  with  the  exception  of  two 
small  rooms,  evil-smelling  and  damp.     There  was  no  food 


THE   FLIGHT  FROM  PEKING  223 

to  be  had,  except  bread  made  of  sodden  flour.  One  of  the 
two  available  rooms  was  occupied  by  the  Old  Buddha,  the 
other  by  Kuang  Hsii  and  his  Consort,  while  all  the  officials 
of  the  Court,  high  and  low,  fared  as  best  they  might  in 
the  stuffy  courtyard.  For  once  the  venerable  mother's 
composure  deserted  her.  "This  is  abominable,"  she  com- 
plained; "the  place  swarms  with  insects,  and  I  cannot 
sleep  a  wink.  It  is  disgraceful  that  I  should  have  come 
to  such  a  pass  at  my  time  of  life.  My  state  is  worse  even 
than  that  of  the  Emperor  Hsiian-Tsung  of  the  T'ang 
Dynasty,  who  was  forced  to  fly  from  his  capital,  and  saw 
his  favourite  concubine  murdered  before  his  very  eyes." 
An  unsubstantiated  report  that  the  Allies  had  plundered 
her  palace  treasure-vaults  was  not  calculated  to  calm  Her 
Majesty,  and  for  a  while  the  suite  went  in  fear  of  her  wrath. 

On  August  27th  the  Court  crossed  the  Shansi  border, 
and  spent  the  night  at  T'ien-chen  hsien.  The  local  Magis- 
trate, a  Manchu,  had  committed  suicide  after  hearing  of  the 
fall  of  Mukden  and  other  Manchurian  cities;  and  the 
town  was  in  a  condition  of  ruinous  disorder.  Their  Majes- 
ties supped  off  a  meal  hastily  provided  by  the  Gaol 
Warder.  But  their  courage  was  restored  by  the  arrival  of 
Ts'en  Ch'un-hslian,^  an  official  of  high  intelligence  and 
courage,  who  greatly  pleased  the  Old  Buddha  by  bringing 
her  a  gift  of  eggs  and  a  girdle  and  pouch  for  her  pipe  and 
purse. 

On  the  30th  August  the  Court  lay  at  Ta-t'ung  fu,  in  the 
Yamen  of  the  local  Brigadier-General.  They  stayed  here 
four  days,  enjoying  the  greatly  improved  accommodation 
which  the  General's  efforts  had  secured  for  them. 

On  September  4th,  they  reached  the  market  town  of 
T'ai-yiieh,  having  travelled  thirty-five  miles  that  day,  and 
here  again  they  found  damp  rooms  and  poor  fare.  But 
Her  Majesty's  spirits  had  recovered.  On  the  i6th,  while 
crossing  the  hill-pass  of  the  "Flighting  Geese,"  Her 
Majesty  ordered  a  halt  in  order  to  enjoy  the  view.  "It 
reminds  me  of  the  Jehol  country,"  she  said.     Then,  turning 

^  At  that  time  Governor-designate  of  Shensi.     He  had  come  north 
with  troops  to  defend  the  capital. 


224    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

to  the  Emperor,  "After  all,  it's  delightful  to  get  away 
like  this  from  Peking  and  to  see  the  world,  isn't  it?" 
"Under  happier  circumstances,  it  would  be,"  replied 
Kuang  Hsii.  At  this  point  Ts'en  Ch'un-hsiian  brought 
Her  Majesty  a  large  bouquet  of  yellow  flowers,  a  present 
which  touched  her  deeply  :  in  return  she  sent  him  a  jar 
of  butter-milk  tea. 

On  the  7th,  the  only  accommodation  which  the  local 
officials  had  been  able  to  prepare  at  Yiian-p'ing  was  a 
mud-house  belonging  to  one  of  the  common  people,  in 
which,  by  an  oversight,  several  empty  coffins  had  been 
left.  Ts'en,  arriving  ahead  of  the  party,  was  told  of  this, 
and  galloped  to  make  excuses  to  Her  Majesty  and  take 
her  orders.  Happily,  the  "  Motherly  Countenance "  was 
not  moved  to  wrath,  and  "the  divine  condescension  was 
manifested."  "If  the  coffins  can  be  moved,  move  them," 
she  said;  "but  so  long  as  they  are  not  in  the  main  room, 
I  do  not  greatly  mind  their  remaining."  They  were  all 
removed,  however,  and  the  Old  Buddha  was  protected 
from  possibly  evil  influences. 

On  the  8th  September,  at  Hsin  Chou,  three  Imperial 
(yellow)  chairs  had  been  provided  by  the  local  officials,  so 
that  Their  Majesties'  entrance  into  T'ai-yiian  fu,  on  the 
loth,  was  not  unimposing.  The  Court  took  up  its  residence 
in  the  Governor's  Yamen  (that  same  bloodstained  building 
in  which,  six  weeks  before,  Yii  Hsien  had  massacred  the 
missionaries.)  Yii  Hsien,  the  Governor,  met  their  Im- 
perial Majesties  outside  the  city  walls,  and  knelt  by  the 
roadside  as  the  Old  Buddha's  palanquin  came  up.  She 
bade  her  bearers  stop,  and  called  to  him  to  approach. 
When  he  had  done  so,  she  said :  "  At  your  farewell  audi- 
ence, in  the  last  Moon  of  the  last  year,  you  assured  me 
that  the  Boxers  were  really  invulnerable.  Alas !  You 
were  wrong,  and  now  Peking  has  fallen  !  But  you  did 
splendidly  in  carrying  out  my  orders  and  in  ridding  Shansi 
of  the  whole  brood  of  foreign  devils.  Everyone  speaks 
well  of  you  for  this,  and  I  know,  besides,  how  high  is 
your  reputation  for  good  and  honest  work.  Neverthe- 
less, and  because  the  foreign  devils  are  loudly  calling  for 


THE  FLIGHT  FROM  PEKING  225 

vengeance  upon  you,  I  may  have  to  dismiss  you  from 
office,  as  I  had  to  do  with  Li  Ping-heng :  but  be  not 
disturbed  in  mind,  for  if  I  do  this,  it  is  only  to  throw  dust 
in  the  eyes  of  the  barbarians,  for  our  own  ends.  We  must 
just  bide  our  time,  and  liope  for  better  days." 

Yii  Hsien  "ko-towed,"  as  in  duty  bound,  nine  times,  and 
replied:  "Your  Majesty's  slave  caught  them  as  in  a  net, 
and  allowed  neither  chicken  nor  dog  to  escape :  yet  am  I 
ready  to  accept  punishment  and  dismissal  from  my  post. 
As  to  the  Boxers,  they  have  been  defeated  because  they 
failed  to  abide  by  the  laws  of  the  Order,  and  because  they 
killed  and  plundered  innocent  people  who  were  not 
Christians." 

This  conversation  was  clearly  heard  by  several  by- 
standers, one  of  whom  reported  it  in  a  letter  to  Shanghai. 
When  Yii  Hsien  had  finished  speaking,  the  Old  Buddha 
sighed,  and  told  her  bearers  to  proceed.  A  few  days  later 
she  issued  the  first  of  the  Expiatory  Decrees  by  which 
Yii  Hsien  and  other  Boxer  leaders  were  dismissed  from 
office,  but  not  before  she  had  visited  the  courtyard  where 
the  hapless  missionaries  had  met  their  fate,  and  cross- 
examined  Yii  Hsien  on  every  detail  of  that  butchery.  And 
it  is  recorded,  that,  while  she  listened  eagerly  to  this  tale 
of  unspeakable  cowardice  and  cruelty,  the  Heir  Apparent 
was  swaggering  noisily  up  and  down  the  courtyard, 
brandishing  the  huge  sword  given  him  by  Yii  Hsien,  with 
which  his  devil's  work  had  been  done.  No  better  example 
could  be  cited  of  this  remarkable  woman's  primitive  in- 
stincts and  elemental  passion  of  vindictiveness. 

Once  more,  during  the  Court's  residence  at  T'ai-yiian, 
did  the  Old  Buddha  and  Yii  Hsien  meet.  At  this  audi- 
ence, realising  the  determination  of  the  foreigners  to  exact 
the  death  penalty  in  this  case,  and  realising  also  the 
Governor's  popularity  with  the  inhabitants  of  T'ai-yiian, 
she  told  him,  with  unmistakable  significance,  that  the  price 
of  coffins  was  rising,  a  plain  but  euphemistic  hint  that  he 
would  do  well  to  commit  suicide  before  a  worse  fate  over- 
took him. 

Her  Majesty  was  much  gratified  at  the  splendid  accom- 
Q 


226    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 


modation  provided  for  her  at  T'ai-yiian,  and  particularly 
pleased  to  see  all  the  gold  and  silver  vessels  and  utensils 
that  had  been  made  in  1775  for  Ch'ien  Lung's  progress  to 
the  sacred  shrines  of  Wu-T'ai  shan  ;  they  had  been  polished 
up  for  the  occasion  and  made  a  brave  show,  so  that  the 
*' Benevolent  Countenance"  beamed  with  delight.  "We 
have  nothing  like  this  in  Peking,"  she  said. 

Jung  Lu  joined  the  Court  on  the  day  after  its  arrival  at 
T*ai-yuan,  and  was  most  affectionately  welcomed  by  the 
Old  Buddha,  to  whom  he  gave  a  full  account  of  his  journey 
through  Chihli  and  of  the  widespread  devastation  wrought 
by  the  Boxers. 

Tzu  Hsi  asked  Jung  Lu  for  his  advice  as  to  her  future 
policy.  Bluntly,  as  was  his  wont,  he  replied  :  "Old  Buddha, 
there  is  only  one  way.  You  must  behead  Prince  Tuan  and 
all  the  rest  of  the  Princes  and  Ministers  who  misled  you 
and  then  you  must  return  to  Peking." 

An  incident,  vouched  for  by  a  high  Manchu  official 
attached  to  the  Court,  illustrates  the  relations  at  this  time 
existing  between  the  Emperor,  the  Empress  Dowager,  and 
Jung  Lu.  When  the  latter  reached  T'ai-yiian  fu,  Kuang- 
Hsii  sent  a  special  messenger  to  summon  him.  "I  am 
glad  you  have  come  at  last,"  said  His  Majesty.  "I  desire 
that  you  will  have  Prince  Tuan  executed  without  delay." 

"How  can  I  do  so  without  the  Empress  Dowager's 
orders?"  he  replied.  "The  days  are  past  when  no  other 
Decree  but  Your  Majesty's  was  needed."  ^ 

Jung  Lu's  position,  but  for  the  high  favour  of  the 
Empress  Dowager,  would  have  been  full  of  danger,  for 
he  was  disliked  by  reactionaries  and  reformers  alike ;  sur- 
rounded by  extremists,  his  intuitive  common  sense,  his 
doctrine  of  the  "happy  mean"  had  made  him  many 
enemies.  Nor  could  he  lay  claim  to  a  reputation  for  that 
"purest  integrity"  which  he  had  so  greatly  admired  in  his 
colleague  Ch'ung  Ch'i.  At  T'ai-yiian  fu,  he  was  openly 
denounced  to  the  Old  Buddha  for  having  connived  in  the 
embezzlements  of  a  certain  Ch'en  Tse-lin,  who  had  been 


in 


*  An  allusion  to  Kuang-Hsii's  order  for  Jung  Lu's  summary  execution 
September  1898. 


f 

Photo,  Bctines,  Peking. 

Marble  Bridge  in  the  Grounds  of  the  Lake  Palace. 


Photo,  Betines,  Peking. 

In  the  Grounds  of  the  Palace  in  the  Western  Park. 


f  »        c ,  o         <: 


a     ( 


(       • 


THE  FLIGHT  FROM   PEKING  227 

robbing  the  Military  Treasury  on  a  grand  scale.  Jung 
Lu  had  ordered  that  his  defalcations  be  made  good,  but 
subsequently  informed  the  Throne  that  the  money  had  been 
captured  by  the  Allies,  and  the  accusing  Censor  did  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  the  price  of  his  conversion  (brought 
to  his  quarters  by  the  hands  of  a  sergeant  named  Yao) 
had  been  forty  thousand  taels  of  silver,  twenty  pounds  of 
best  birds'-nests,  and  four  cases  of  silk.  The  Empress 
Dowager  shelved  the  Memorial,  as  was  her  wont,  though 
no  doubt  she  used  the  information  for  the  ultimate  benefit 
of  her  privy  purse.  Jung  Lu  also  received  vast  sums  of 
money  and  many  valuable  presents  on  his  birthday,  and 
at  the  condolence  ceremonies  for  the  death  of  his  wife,  so 
much  so  that  he  incurred  the  fierce  jealousy  of  the  chief 
eunuch  Li  Lien-ying,  who  was  doing  his  best  at  this  time 
to  re-feather  his  own  nest,  despoiled  by  the  troops  of 
the  Allies. 

At  T'ai-yiian  fu,  so  many  officials  had  joined  the  Court 
that  intrigues  became  rife;  there  was  much  heartburning 
as  to  precedence  and  status.  Those  who  had  borne  the 
burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  the  dangers  and  the  hardships 
of  the  flight  from  Peking,  claimed  special  recognition  and 
seniority  at  the  hands  of  Their  Imperial  Mistress.  Each 
of  these  thought  they  should  be  privileged  above  those  of 
equal  rank  who  had  only  rejoined  the  Court  when  all 
danger  was  past,  and  still  more  so  above  those  who  were 
now  hurrying  up  from  the  provinces  in  search  of 
advancement. 

The  chief  topic  of  discussion  at  audience,  and  at  meetings 
of  the  Grand  Council,  was  the  question  of  the  Court's 
return  to  Peking,  or  of  the  removal  of  the  capital  to  one 
of  the  chief  cities  of  the  south  or  west.  Chang  Chih- 
tung  had  put  in  a  memorial,  strongly  recommending  the 
city  of  Tang- Yang  in  Hupei,  on  account  of  its  central 
position.  One  of  the  arguments  gravely  put  forward  by 
the  "scholarly  bungler"  for  this  proposal  was,  that  the 
characters  "Tang-Yang"  (which  mean  "facing  south") 
were  in  themselves  of  good  augury,  and  an  omen  of  better 
days  to  come,  because  the  Emperor  always  sits  with  his 


228    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

face  to  the  south.  Chang's  enemies  at  Court  saw  in  this 
idea  a  veiled  hint  that  the  Emperor  should  be  restored 
to  power. 

But  Jung"  Lu  was  now  facile  princeps  in  the  Old 
Buddha's  counsels,  and  at  audience  his  colleagues  of  the 
Grand  Council  (Lu  Ch'uan-lin  and  Wang  Wen-shao) 
followed  his  lead  implicitly.  He  never  ceased  to  advise 
the  Empress  to  return  forthwith  to  Peking,  and,  when  at 
a  later  date  she  decided  on  this  step,  it  was  rather  because 
of  her  faith  in  his  sound  judgment  than  because  of  the 
many  memorials  sent  in  from  other  high  officials.  During 
the  Court's  stay  at  T'ai-yiian  fu,  argument  on  this  subject 
was  continual,  but  towards  the  end  of  September  rumours 
reached  Her  Majesty  that  the  Allies  were  sending  a  swift 
punitive  expedition  to  avenge  the  murdered  missionaries; 
this  decided  her  to  leave  at  once  for  Hsi-an  fu,  where  she 
would  feel  safe  from  further  pursuit.  The  Court  left 
accordingly  on  the  30th  September;  but  as  the  preserva- 
tion of  "  face  "  before  the  world  is  a  fundamental  principle, 
with  Empresses  as  with  slave-girls,  in  China,  her  departure 
was  announced  in  the  following  brief  Edict :  — 

"As  Shansi  province  is  suffering  from  famine,  which  makes 
it  very  difficult  to  provide  for  our  needs,  and  as  the  absence  of 
telegraphic  communication  there  causes  all  manner  of  incon- 
venient delays,  we  are  compelled  to  continue  our  progress 
westwards  to  Hsi-an." 

The  journey  into  Shensi  was  made  with  all  due  provision 
for  the  dignity  and  comfort  of  Their  Majesties,  but  the 
Empress  was  overcome  by  grief  en  route  at  the  death  of 
Kang  Yi,  chief  patron  of  the  Boxers,  and  the  most  bigoted 
and  violent  of  all  the  reactionaries  near  the  Throne.  He 
fell  ill  at  a  place  called  Hou  Ma,  and  died  in  three  days, 
although  the  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of  Censors,  Ho 
Nai-ying,  obtained  leave  to  remain  behind  and  nurse  him. 
The  Old  Buddha  was  most  reluctant  to  leave  the  invalid, 
and  showed  unusual  emotion.  After  his  death  she  took 
a  kindly  interest  in  his  son  (who  followed  the  Court  to 
Hsi-an)  and  would  frequently  speak  to  him  of  his  father's 
patriotism  and  loyalty. 


f 


THE  FLIGHT  PROM   PEKING  229 

At  Hsi-an  fu  the  Court  occupied  the  Governor's  official 
residence,  into  which  Her  Majesty  removed  after  residing 
for  a  while  in  the  buildings  formerly  set  apart  for  the 
temporary  accommodation  of  the  Viceroy  of  Kansuh  and 
Shensi  on  visits  of  inspection.  Both  Yamens  had  been 
prepared  for  Their  Majesties'  use;  the  walls  had  been 
painted  Imperial  red,  and  the  outer  Court  surrounded  with 
a  palisade,  beyond  which  were  the  quarters  of  the  Imperial 
Guards,  and  the  makeshift  lodgings  of  the  Metropolitan 
Boards  and  the  officials  of  the  nine  Ministries  on  palace 
duty.  The  arrangements  of  the  Court,  though  restricted 
in  the  matter  of  space,  were  on  much  the  same  lines  as 
in  Peking.  The  main  hall  of  the  "Travelling  Palace  "  was 
left  empty,  the  side  halls  being  used  as  ante-chambers  for 
officials  awaiting  audience.  Behind  the  main  hall  was  a 
room  to  which  access  was  given  by  a  door  with  six  panels, 
two  of  which  were  left  open,  showing  the  Throne  in  the 
centre  of  the  room,  upholstered  in  yellow  silk.  It  was 
here  that  Court  ceremonies  took  place.  On  the  left  of  this 
room  was  the  apartment  where  audiences  were  held  daily, 
and  behind  this  again  were  the  Empress  Dowager's  bed- 
room and  private  sitting-room.  The  Emperor  and  his 
Consort  occupied  a  small  apartment  communicating  with 
the  Old  Buddha's  bedroom,  and  to  the  west  of  these  again 
were  three  small  rooms,  occupied  by  the  Heir  Apparent. 
The  chief  eunuch  occupied  the  room  next  to  that  of  the 
Old  Buddha  on  the  east  side.  The  general  arrangements 
for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  Court  were  neces- 
sarily of  a  makeshift  and  provisional  character  and  the 
Privy  Purse  was  for  a  time  at  a  low  ebb,  so  that  Her 
Majesty  was  much  exercised  over  the  receipt  and  safe 
custody  of  the  tribute,  in  money  and  in  kind,  which  came 
flowing  in  from  the  provinces.  So  long  as  the  administra- 
tion of  her  household  was  under  the  supervision  of 
Governor  Ts'en,  the  strictest  economy  was  practised;  for 
instance,  the  amount  allowed  by  him  for  the  upkeep  of 
Their  Majesties'  table  was  two  hundred  taels  (about  £2^) 
per  day,  which,  as  the  Old  Buddha  remarked  on  one 
occasion,  was  about  one-tenth  of  the  ordinary  expenditure 


230    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

under  the  same  heading  at  Peking.  "We  are  living 
cheaply  now,"  she  said ;  to  which  the  Governor  replied : 
"The  amount  could  still  be  reduced  with  advantage.*' 

Her  Majesty's  custom,  in  selecting  the  menus  for  the 
day,  was  to  have  a  list  of  about  one  hundred  dishes  brought 
in  every  evening  by  the  eunuch  on  duty.  After  the  priva- 
tions of  the  flight  from  Peking,  the  liberal  supply  of 
swallows'  nests  and  beche  de  mer  which  came  in  from  the 
south  was  very  much  appreciated,  and  her  rough  fare  of 
chickens  and  eggs  gave  way  to  recherche  menus;  but  the 
Emperor,  as  usual,  limited  himself  to  a  diet  of  vegetables. 
She  gave  orders  that  no  more  than  half  a  dozen  dishes 
should  be  served  at  one  meal,  and  she  took  personal  pains 
with  the  supply  of  milk,  of  which  she  always  consumed  a 
considerable  quantity.  Six  cows  were  kept  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  the  Imperial  apartments,  for  the  feeding 
of  which  Her  Majesty  was  charged  two  hundred  taels  a 
month.  Her  health  was  good  on  the  whole,  but  she 
suffered  from  indigestion,  which  she  attributed  to  the 
change  of  climate  and  the  fatigues  of  her  journey.  For 
occasional  attacks  of  insomnia  she  had  recourse  to  mas- 
sage, in  which  several  of  the  eunuchs  were  well  skilled. 
After  the  Court  had  settled  down  at  Hsi-an  fu.  Her  Majesty 
was  again  persuaded  to  permit  the  presentation  of  plays, 
which  she  seemed  generally  to  enjoy  as  much  as  those  in 
Peking.  But  her  mind  was  for  ever  filled  with  anxiety  as 
to  the  progress  of  the  negotiations  with  the  foreign  Powers 
at  the  capital,  and  all  telegrams  received  were  brought  to 
her  at  once.  The  news  of  the  desecration  of  her  Summer 
Palace  had  filled  her  with  wrath  and  distress,  especially 
when,  in  letters  from  the  eunuch  Sun  (who  had  remained  in 
charge  at  Peking),  she  learned  that  her  Throne  had  been 
thrown  into  the  lake,  and  that  the  soldiers  had  made  "lewd 
and  ribald  drawings  and  writings  "  even  on  the  walls  of 
her  bedroom.  It  was  with  the  greatest  relief  that  she 
heard  of  the  settlement  of  the  terms  of  peace,  subsequently 
recorded  in  the  Protocol  of  7th  of  September,  and  so  soon 
as  these  terms  had  been  irrevocably  arranged,  she  issued 
a  Decree  (June  1901)  fixing  the  date  for  the  Court's  return 


THE  FLIGHT  FROM   PEKING  231 

in  September.     This  Decree,  issued  in  the  name  of  the 
Emperor,  was  as  follows  : 

"Our  Sacred  Mother's  advanced  age  renders  it  necessary  that 
we  should  take  the  greatest  care  of  her  health,  so  that  she  may 
attain  to  peaceful  longevity ;  a  long  journey  in  the  heat  being 
evidently  undesirable,  we  have  fixed  on  the  19th  day  of  the  7th 
Moon  (ist  September)  to  commence  our  return  journey,  and 
are  now  preparing  to  escort  Her  Majesty,  vid  Honan." 

One  of  the  most  notorious  Boxer  leaders,  namely,  Duke 
Kung,  the  younger  brother  of  Prince  Chuang,  had  accom- 
panied the  Court,  with  his  family,  to  Hsi-an.  The  Old 
Buddha,  realising  that  his  presence  would  undoubtedly 
compromise  her,  now  decided  to  send  him  away.  His 
family  fell  from  one  state  of  misery  to  another;  no  assist- 
ance was  rendered  to  them  by  any  officials  on  the  journey, 
and  eventually,  after  much  wandering,  the  Duke  was  com- 
pelled to  earn  a  bare  living  by  serving  as  a  subordinate 
in  a  small  Yamen,  while  his  wife,  who  was  young  and 
comely,  was  sold  into  slavery.  It  was  clear  that  the  Old 
Buddha  had  now  realised  the  error  of  her  ways  and  the 
folly  that  had  been  committed  in  encouraging  the  Boxers. 
After  the  executions  and  suicides  of  the  proscribed  leaders 
of  the  movement  she  was  heard  on  one  occasion  to  remark  : 
"These  Princes  and  Ministers  were  wont  to  bluster  and 
boast,  relying  upon  their  new  kinship  to  ourselves,  and  we 
foolishly  believed  them  when  they  assured  us  that  the 
foreign  devils  would  never  get  the  better  of  China.  In 
their  folly  they  came  within  an  ace  of  overthrowing  our 
Dynasty.  The  only  one  whose  fate  I  regret  is  Chao  Shu- 
ch'iao.     For  him  I  am  truly  sorry." 

The  fate  of  Prince  Chuang's  brother  showed  clearly  that 
both  officials  and  people  had  realised  the  genuine  change 
in  the  Empress  Dowager's  feelings  towards  the  Boxers,  for 
there  was  none  so  poor  to  do  him  honour. 

Both  on  the  journey  to  Hsi-an  fu  and  on  the  return  to 
the  capital,  Her  Majesty  displayed  the  greatest  interest  in 
the  lives  of  the  peasantry  and  the  condition  of  the  people 
generally.  She  subscribed  liberally  to  the  famine  fund  in 
Shansi,  professing  the  greatest  sympathy  for  the  stricken 


232    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

people.    She  told  the  Emperor  that  she  had  never  appre- 
ciated their  sufferings  in  the  seclusion  of  her  palace. 

During  the  Court's  stay  at  Hsi-an  fu  the  Emperor  came 
to  take  more  interest  in  State  affairs  than  he  had  done  at 
any  time  since  the  coup  d'etat,  but  although  the  Old 
Buddha  discussed  matters  with  him  freely,  and  took  his 
opinion,  he  had  no  real  voice  m  the  decision  of  any  impor- 
tant matter.  His  temper  continued  to  be  uncertain  and 
occasionally  violent,  so  that  many  high  officials  of  the 
Court  preferred  always  to  take  their  business  to  the 
Empress  Dowager.  One  important  appointment  was  made 
at  this  time  by  the  Old  Buddha  at  the  Emperor's  personal 
request,  viz.,  that  of  Sun  Chia-nai  (ex-Imperial  tutor)  to 
the  Grand  Secretariat.  This  official  had  resigned  office  in 
January  1900  upon  the  selection  of  the  Heir  Apparent, 
which  he  regarded  as  equivalent  to  the  deposition  of  the 
Emperor.  Subsequently,  throughout  the  Boxer  troubles, 
he  had  remained  in  his  house  at  Peking,  which  was  plun- 
dered, and  he  himself  would  undoubtedly  have  been  killed, 
but  for  the  protection  given  him  by  Jung  Lu.  At  this 
time  also,  Lu  Ch'uan-lin  joined  the  Grand  Council.  When 
the  siege  of  the  Legations  began,  he  had  left  his  post  as 
Governor  of  Kiangsu,  and  marched  north  with  some  three 
thousand  men  to  defend  Peking  against  the  foreigners. 
Before  he  reached  the  capital,  however,  it  had  fallen,  so 
that,  after  disbanding  his  troops,  he  went  for  a  few  weeks 
to  his  native  place  in  Chihli  and  thence  proceeded  to  join 
the  Court  at  Ta-T'ung  fu,  where  the  Old  Buddha  received 
him  most  cordially.  His  case  is  particularly  interesting  in 
that  he  was  until  his  death  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Council,^  and  that,  like  many  other  high  officials  at  Peking, 
his  ideas  of  the  art  of  government  and  the  relative  position 
of  China  in  the  world,  remained  exactly  as  they  were  before 
the  Boxer  movement.  His  action  in  proceeding  to  Peking 
with  his  troops  from  his  post  in  the  south  is  also  interest- 
ing, as  showing  the  semi-independent  position  of  provincial 
officials,  and  the  free  hand  which  any  man  of  strong  views 
may  claim  and  enjoy.  The  Viceroys  of  Nanking  and 
^  Deceased.,  26th  August  1910, 


THE  FLIGHT  FROM  PEKING  233 

Wu-ch*ang  might  dare  to  oppose  the  wishes  of  the  Empress 
Dowager,  and  to  exercise  their  own  judgment  as  regards 
declaring  war  upon  foreigners,  but  it  was  equally  open 
to  any  of  their  subordinates  to  differ  from  them,  and  to 
take  such  steps  as  they  might  personally  consider  proper, 
even  to  the  movement  of  troops. 

An  official,  one  of  the  many  provincial  deputies  charged 
with  the  carrying  of  tribute  to  the  Court  at  Hsi-an,  return- 
ing thence  to  his  post  at  Soochow,  sent  to  a  friend  at 
Peking  a  detailed  description  of  the  life  of  the  Court  in 
exile,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken.  The 
document,  being  at  that  time  confidential  and  not  intended 
for  publication,  throws  some  light  on  the  Court  and  its 
doings  which  is  lacking  in  official  documents:  — 

"The  Empress  Dowager  is  still  in  sole  charge  of  affairs,  and 
controls  everything  in  and  around  the  Court ;  those  who  exercise 
the  most  influence  with  her  are  Jung  Lu  and  Lu  Ch'uan-lin. 
Governor  Ts'en,  has  fallen  into  disfavour  of  late.  His  Majesty's 
advisers  are  most  anxious  that  she  should  return  to  Peking. 
She  looks  very  young  and  well;  one  would  not  put  her  age  at 
more  than  forty,  whereas  she  is  really  sixty-four.  The  Emperor 
appears  to  be  generally  depressed,  but  he  has  been  putting  on 
flesh  lately.  The  Heir  Apparent  is  fifteen  years  of  age;  fat, 
coarse-featured,  and  of  rude  manners.  He  favours  military 
habits  of  deportment  and  dress,  and  to  see  him  when  he  goes 
to  the  play,  wearing  a  felt  cap  with  gold  braid,  a  leather  jerkin, 
and  a  red  military  overcoat,  one  would  take  him  for  a  prize- 
fighter. He  knows  all  the  young  actors  and  rowdies,  and 
associates  generally  with  the  very  lowest  classes.  He  is  a  good 
rider,  however,  and  a  very  fair  musician.  If,  at  the  play-houses, 
the  music  goes  wrong,  he  will  frequently  get  up  in  his  place  and 
rebuke  the  performer,  and  at  times  he  even  jumps  on  to  the 
stage,  possesses  himself  of  the  instrument,  and  plays  the  piece 
himself.  All  this  brings  the  boy  into  disrepute  with  respectable 
people,  and  some  of  his  pranks  have  come  to  the  ears  of  the 
Old  Buddha,  who  they  say  has  had  him  severely  whipped.  His 
last  offence  was  to  commence  an  intrigue  with  one  of  the  ladies- 
in-waiting  on  Her  Majesty,  for  which  he  got  into  serious 
trouble.  He  is  much  in  the  company  of  Li  Lien-ying  (the  chief 
eunuch),  who  leads  him  into  the  wildest  dissipation.^  My 
friend  Kao,  speaking  of  him  the  other  day,  wittily  said,  that 
*  from  being  an  expectant  Emperor,  he  would  soon  become  a 
deposed  Heir  Apparent ' ;  which  is  quite  true,  for  he  never  reads, 
^  As  be  had  done  for  Tzu  Hsi's  son,  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih, 


234    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

all  his  tastes  are  vicious,  and  his  manners  rude  and  overbearing. 
To  give  you  an  instance  of  his  doings  :  on  the  i8th  of  the  loth 
Moon,  accompanied  by  his  brother  and  by  his  uncle,  the  Boxer 
Duke  Lan,  and  followed  by  a  crowd  of  eunuchs,  he  got  mixed 
up  in  a  fight  with  some  Kansu  braves  at  a  theatre  in  the  Temple 
of  the  City  God.     The  eunuchs  got  the  worst  of  it,  and  some 
minor  officials  who  were  in  the   audience  were  mauled  by  the 
crowd.     The  trouble  arose,  in  the  first  instance,  because  of  the 
eunuchs  attempting  to  claim  the  best  seats  in  the  house,  and 
the  sequel  shows  to  what  lengths  of  villainy  these  fellows  will 
descend,    and   how   great   is    their   influence   with   the   highest 
officials.     The  eunuchs  were  afraid  to  seek  revenge  on  the  Kansu 
troops  direct,  but  they  attained  their  end  by   denouncing  the 
manager  of  the  theatre  to  Governor  Ts'en,  and  by  inducing  him 
to  close  every  theatre  in  Hsi-an.     Besides  which,  the  theatre 
manager  was  put  in  a  wooden  collar,  and  thus  ignominiously 
paraded  through  the  streets  of  the  city.     The  Governor  was 
induced  to  take  this  action  on  the  ground  that  Her  Majesty, 
sore  distressed  at  the  famine  in  Shansi  and  the  calamities  which 
have   overtaken   China,    was   offended    at   these   exhibitions   of 
unseemly  gaiety ;  and  the  proclamation  which  closed  the  play- 
houses, ordered  also  that  restaurants  and  other  places  of  public 
entertainment  should  suspend  business.     Everybody  in  the  city 
knew  that  this  was  the  work  of  the  eunuchs.     Eventually  Chi 
Lu,  Chamberlain  of  the  Household,  was  able  to  induce  the  chief 
eunuch  to  ask  the  Old  Buddha  to  give  orders  that  the  theatres 
be  reopened.     This  was  accordingly  done,   but  of  course  the 
real  reason  was  not  given,  and  the  Proclamation  stated  that, 
since  the  recent  fall  of  snow  justified   hopes  of  a  prosperous 
year  and  good  harvests,  as  a  mark  of  the  people's  gratitude  to 
Providence,  the  theatres  would  be  reopened  as  usual,  '  but  no 
more  disturbances  must  occur.' 

***** 
"  It  would  seem  that  the  Old  Buddha  still  cherishes  hopes 
of  defeating  the  foreigners,  for  she  is  particularly  delighted 
by  a  Memorial  which  has  been  sent  in  lately  by  Hsia  Chen-wu, 
in  which  he  recommends  a  certain  aboriginal  tribesman  (*  Man- 
tzu  ')  as  a  man  of  remarkable  strategic  ability.  He  offers  to 
lose  his  own  head  and  those  of  all  his  family,  should  this 
Heaven-sent  warrior  fail  to  defeat  all  the  troops  of  the  Allies 
in  one  final  engagement,  and  he  begs  that  the  Emperor  may 
permit  this  man  to  display  his  powers  and  thus  save  the 
Empire." 


XVI 

THE  OLD   BUDDHA   PENITENT 

When  the  wrath  of  the  Powers  had  been  appeased  by 
the  death  and  banishment  of  the  leading  Boxers,  and  when 
the  Empress  Dowager  had  come  to  realise  that  her  future 
policy  must  be  one  of  conciliation  and  reform,  she  pro- 
ceeded first  of  all  to  adjust  the  annals  of  her  reign  for  the 
benefit  of  posterity,  in  the  following  remarkable  Edict  (13th 
February  1901) : — 

"  In  the  summer  of  last  year,  the  Boxers,  after  bringing  about 
a  state  of  war,  took  possession  of  our  Capital  and  dominated 
the  very  Throne  itself.  The  Decrees  issued  at  that  time  were 
the  work  of  wicked  Princes  and  Ministers  of  State,  who,  taking 
advantage  of  the  chaotic  condition  of  affairs,  did  not  hesitate  to 
issue  documents  under  the  Imperial  seal,  which  were  quite  con- 
trary to  our  wishes.  We  have  on  more  than  one  previous 
occasion  hinted  indirectly  at  the  extraordinary  difficulty  of  the 
position  in  which  we  were  placed,  and  which  left  us  no  alter- 
native but  to  act  as  we  did.  Our  officials  and  subjects  should 
have  no  difficulty  in  reading  between  the  lines  and  appreciating 
our  meaning. 

"We  have  now  punished  all  the  guilty,  and  we  hereby  order 
that  the  Grand  Secretariat  shall  submit  for  our  perusal  all 
Decrees  issued  between  the  24th  day  of  the  5th  Moon  and  the 
20th  day  of  the  7th  Moon  (20th  June  to  14th  August),  so  that  all 
spurious  or  illegal  documents  may  be  withdrawn  and  cancelled. 
Thus  shall  historical  accuracy  be  attained  and  our  Imperial 
utterances  receive  the  respect  to  which  they  are  properly 
entitled." 

Having  thus  secured  the  respect  of  posterity,  Tzu  Hsi 
proceeded  to  make  the  amende  honorable  (with  due 
regard  to  the  Imperial  "face  "),  for  so  many  of  her  sins  as 
she  was  prepared  to  admit.  In  another  Decree,  in  the 
name  of  the  Emperor,  which  gives  a  Miinchhausen  account 
of  the  Throne's  part  and  lot  in  the  crisis  of  1900,  and  a 
pathetic  description  of  her  own  and  the  Emperor's  suffer- 

235 


236    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

ings  during  the  flight,  she  makes  solemn  confession  of 
error  and  promise  of  reform.  As  an  example  of  the  manner 
in  which  history  is  made  in  China,  this  Edict  is  of  perma- 
nent interest  and  value,  but  it  is  too  long  for  reproduction. 

It  was  issued  in  February,  coincidently  with  Her 
Majesty's  acceptance  of  the  conditions  imposed  by  the 
Powers  in  the  peace  negotiations  at  Peking.  From  that 
date  until,  in  June,  the  terms  of  the  Protocol  were  definitely 
settled  by  the  plenipotentiaries,  her  attitude  continued  to 
be  one  of  nervous  apprehension,  while  the  discomfort  of 
life  at  Hsi-an,  as  well  as  the  advice  repeatedly  given  her 
t>y  Jung  Lu  and  the  provincial  Viceroys,  combined  to 
make  her  look  forward  with  impatience  to  the  day  when 
she  might  set  out  for  her  capital. 

There  remained  only  one  source  of  difficulty,  namely, 
the  presence  of  Prince  Tuan's  son,  the  Heir  Apparent,  at 
her  Court.  Tzu  Hsi  was  well  aware  that  she  could  hardly 
look  for  cordial  relations  with  the  representatives  of  the 
Powers  at  Peking,  or  for  sympathy  abroad,  so  long  as  this 
son  of  the  Boxer  chief  remained  heir  to  the  Throne.  It 
would  clearly  be  impossible,  in  the  event  of  his  becoming 
Emperor,  for  him  to  consent  to  his  father  remaining  under 
sentence  of  banishment,  and  equally  impossible  to  expect 
the  Powers  to  consent  to  Prince  Tuan's  rehabilitation  and 
return.  Yet  the  youth  had  been  duly  and  solemnly  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  to  the  Throne,  a  thing  not  lightly  to  be 
set  aside.  Once  again  the  Old  Buddha  showed  that  the 
sacred  laws  of  succession  were  less  than  a  strong  woman's 
will. 

Politics  apart,  it  was  common  knowledge  that  Tzu  Hsi 
had  for  some  time  repented  of  her  choice  of  Prince  Tuan's 
ill-mannered,  uncouth  son  as  Heir  Apparent.  More  than 
once  had  she  been  brought  to  shame  by  his  wild,  and  some- 
times disgraceful,  conduct.  Even  in  her  presence,  the  lad 
paid  little  heed  to  the  formalities  of  Court  etiquette,  and 
none  at  all  to  the  dignity  of  his  own  rank  and  future  posi- 
tion. Tzu  Hsi  was  therefore  probably  not  sorry  of  the 
excuse  for  deposing  him  from  that  high  estate.  In  the 
Decree  cancelling  his  title  to  the  Throne,  she  observed 


r 


THE  OLD  BUDDHA  PENITENT  237 

that  his  father,  Prince  Tuan,  had  brought  the  Empire  to 
the  verge  of  ruin,  and  that  the  guilt  which  he  had  thus 
incurred  towards  his  august  ancestors  could  never  be  wiped 
out.  In  order  to  save  the  "face"  of  the  Heir  Apparent 
and  her  own,  in  a  difficult  position,  the  Edict  describes 
him  as  being  fully  convinced  of  the  impossibility  of  his 
succeeding  to  the  Throne  under  existing  conditions,  and 
that  he  himself  had  therefore  petitioned  Her  Majesty  to 
cancel  her  previous  decision.  In  granting  this  request  and 
directing  him  to  remove  himself  forthwith  from  the  palace 
precincts,  the  Empress  conferred  upon  him  the  rank  of  an 
Imperial  Duke  of  the  lowest  grade,  excusing  him  at  the 
same  time  from  performance  of  any  official  duties  in  that 
capacity.  By  this  decision  she  meant  to  mark  the  con- 
tempt into  which  the  Heir  Apparent  had  fallen,  for  the  rank 
thus  granted  him  was  a  low  one,  and,  without  any  official 
duties  or  salary,  he  was  condemned  to  a  life  of  poverty  and 
obscurity.  This  fallen  Heir  to  the  Dragon  Throne  is  a 
well-known  figure  to-day  in  the  lowest  haunts  of  the 
Chinese  city  at  Peking :  a  drunkard  and  disreputable 
character,  living  the  life  of  a  gambler,  notorious  only  as 
a  swashbuckler  of  romantic  past  and  picturesque  type, — 
one  who,  but  for  adverse  fate  and  the  accursed  foreigner, 
would  have  been  Emperor  of  China. 

Having  deposed  him,  the  Empress  let  it  be  known  that 
the  selection  of  an  heir  to  the  disconsolate  shade  of  T'ung- 
Chih  would  be  postponed  "until  a  suitable  candidate 
should  be  found,"  an  intimation  generally  understood  to 
mean  that  the  vital  question  of  providing  an  heir  in  legiti- 
mate and  proper  succession  to  the  Throne  could  not  well 
be  determined  until  China's  foreign  relations,  as  well  as 
her  internal  affairs,  had  been  placed  upon  a  basis  of  greater 
security.  It  is  curious  to  note  how,  in  all  such  utterances, 
it  appears  to  have  been  tacitly  understood  that  the  Emperor 
Kuang  HsU  was  a  "bad  life." 

Thus,  in  exile,  the  Old  Buddha  wore  philosophically  the 
white  sheet  of  penance  and  burned  the  candle  of  expiation, 
preparatory  to  re-entering  anon  upon  a  new  lease  of  power 
in  that  Peking  where,  as  she  well  knew,  the  memory  of  the 


238    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

foreigner  is  short  and  his  patience  long.  In  June  1901 
the  terms  of  peace  were  settled;  on  the  7th  September  the 
Peace  Protocol  was  solemnly  signed  by  the  representatives 
of  all  the  Powers,  that  "monument  of  collective  ineffi- 
ciency "  which  was  to  sow  the  seeds  of  trouble  to  last  for 
many  years  to  come.  At  Hsi-an  "in  the  profound  seclu- 
sion of  the  palace  "  she  knew  remorse,  not  unstimulated 
by  fear;  on  the  return  journey  to  her  capital  (from  20th 
October  1901  to  6th  January  1902),  while  preparing  her 
arts  and  graces  to  captivate  the  barbarian,  she  was  still  a 
victim  to  doubt  and  apprehension.  Meanwhile,  at  Peking, 
the  mandarin  world,  reassured  by  the  attitude  of  the  peace 
negotiators  and  their  terms,  was  fast  shedding  its  garments 
of  fear  and  peacocking  as  of  yore,  in  renewed  assurance 
of  its  own  indisputable  superiority.  Evidence  of  this  spirit 
was  to  be  met  with  on  all  sides,  gradually  coming  to  its 
fine  flower  in  the  subsequent  negotiations  for  the  revision 
of  the  commercial  Treaties,  and  bringing  home  once  more, 
to  those  who  study  these  things,  the  unalterable  truth  of 
the  discovery  made  years  ago  by  one  of  the  earliest  British 
representatives  in  China,  namely,  that  "this  people  yields 
nothing  to  reason  and  everything  to  fear.*' 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  this  revival 
of  the  mandarin's  traditional  arrogance  of  superiority 
occurred,  significantly  enough,  in  connection  with  the 
penitential  mission  of  the  Emperor's  brother.  Prince  Ch'un 
(now  Regent),  to  Berlin,  an  episode  which  threatened  for 
a  moment  to  lead  to  a  rupture  between  Germany  and 
China.  By  Article  i  of  the  Peace  Protocol,  Prince  Ch'un 
had  been  specially  designated  for  this  mission  to  convey 
in  person  to  the  German  Emperor  the  regrets  of  the 
Chinese  Government  for  the  murder  of  Baron  von  Ketteler. 
He  left  Peking  for  the  purpose  on  the  12th  July  1901,  with 
definite  instructions  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Chinese 
Government's  regrets  were  to  be  expressed.  The  German 
Emperor's  proposals  as  to  the  form  of  ceremony  to  be 
followed  in  this  matter  were  regarded  by  Prince  Ch'un 
as  incompatible  with  his  instructions,  and  it  will  be  remem- 
bered that,  after  some  hesitation  on  the  part  of  the  German 


THE  OLD  BUDDHA  PENITENT  239 

Government,  the  Chinese  policy  of  passive  resistance 
eventually  carried  the  day.  The  following  telegraphic 
correspondence  on  the  subject  is  of  permanent  interest. 
Prince  Ch'un  (whose  personal  name  is  Tsai  Feng)  tele- 
graphed from  Germany  on  the  26th  September  to  the  Peace 
Plenipotentiaries,  Prince  Ch'ing  and  Li  Hung-chang,  as 
follows:  — 

"I   have  duly   received   the   Grand   Councirs   message,   and 
note  that  I  am  commanded  to  act  as  circumstances  may  require, 
and  that  a  middle  course  is  suggested  as  expedient.     I  fully 
appreciate  the  intelligent  caution  of  your  policy,  and  fortunately 
had  already  taken  steps  to  act  in  the  sense  indicated.     On  the 
14th  of  this  Moon  the  German  Emperor  had  given  orders  to 
stop  preparations  for  the  ceremony,  but  as  I  noticed  that  the 
Royal  train  had  not  been  withdrawn  nor  had  his  aide-de-camp 
left  my  suite,    I  inferred   that  there   was   a  possibility  of  his 
yielding    the    points    in    dispute.     Accordingly,    after    a    long 
discussion  of  the  situation  with  Yin  Ch'ang,  I  directed  him  to 
write  in  German  to  Jeng-yintai  ^  requesting  his  friendly  inter- 
vention at  the  Foreign  Office  with  a  definite  explanation  that 
China   could   not   possibly   agree   that   the   mission    should   be 
received  kneeling,  that  Germany  had  nothing  to  gain  on  insist- 
ing upon  such  a  procedure,  and  that  the  only  result  of  a  fiasco 
would  be  to  make  both  countries  appear  extremely  ridiculous. 
I   therefor^   begged   that   the   Emperor   should   accede   to   my 
personal   appeal   and   waive   the   point.     At   the   same   time    I 
requested  the  German  gentleman  who  acts  as  Chinese  Consul 
for  Bavaria  to  address  the  Foreign  Office  to  the  same  effect, 
and  with  a  request  that  we  might  enter  upon  discussion  of  the 
point.     Four  days  later  I  directed  Lii   Hai-huan  to  return  to 
his  post  at   Berlin   to   make  such   arrangements   as   might  be 
possible,    and   on   the   following  day    I   telegraphed   to   him   a 
summary  of  the  Grand  Council's  views  on  the  matter.     In  the 
afternoon  of  the  20th  I  received  the  Consul  for  Bavaria,  who 
informed  me  that  he  had  received  a  telegram  from  the  Foreign 
Office  inquiring  when  I  proposed  to  start  for  Berlin,  and  hoping 
that  I  would  do  so  speedily,  as  the  Emperor  had  now  consented 
to  waive  the  question  of  our  kneeling,  but  required  that  only 
Yin  Ch'ang  should  accompany  me  when  presenting  the  letter 
of   regret,   the   remainder   of   my   suite   to   remain   in   another 
place. 

"The  same  evening  I  received  a  message  from  Lii  Hai- 
huan,  stating  that  the  Emperor  would  undoubtedly  receive  me, 
and  that,   since  all  other  difficult  questions  had  been  settled, 

The  Chinese  rendering  of  a  German  name. 


240    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

His  Majesty  wished  to  leave  for  the  country  in  a  few  days. 
Under  these  circumstances  I  did  not  consider  it  advisable  to 
insist  too  strictly  on  minor  details  of  etiquette,  being  pressed 
for   time,    and    I    therefore   requested   the   German    Emperor's 
Chamberlain  to  have  a  special  train  prepared  for  my  journey. 
We  reached  Potsdam  at  3  p.m.  on  the  21st  ^;  I  was  met  by  a 
General  sent  by  the  Emperor  with  his  state  carriage.     Myself 
and  my  suite  were  lodged  in  the  palace,  where  every  attention 
was  shown  to  us,  and  it  was  arranged  that  I  should  fulfil  my 
mission  on  the  following  day,  after  depositing  a  wreath  on  the 
grave  of  the  late  Empress.     On  the  morning  of  the  following 
day  I  visited  her  tomb,   and  at  noon  the  state  carriage  came 
to  take  me  to  the  New  Palace,  where,  after  being  ushered  into 
the   Emperor's  presence,    I  read  aloud  Their  Majesties'  com- 
plimentary letter.     The  members  of  my  suite  were  awaiting  in 
an   adjoining  apartment.     After  the  ceremony   I  was  escorted 
back  to  my  residence,  and  at  2  p.m.  the  Emperor  came  to  call 
upon   me.     He   was   very   cordial   and   remained   talking   with 
me  for  a  long  time.     By  his  orders  a  steam  launch  was  provided 
for  me,  in  which  I  visited  the  Lake  and  Peacock  Island;  on  the 
following  day  I  saw  a  review  of  the  troops,  and  was  presented 
to  the  Empress.     The  Emperor  begged  me  to  remain  longer 
in    Berlin,    suggesting   that    I    should    visit    the    arsenals    and 
inspect    the    fleet    under    Prince    Henry    at    Stettin.     I  could 
scarcely  decline  these  polite  attentions,  and  after  visiting  the 
Empress  I  took  lodging  in  an  hotel  at  Berlin.     Thanks  to  the 
glorious  prestige  of  our  Empire,  matters  have  thus  been  satis- 
factorily settled,  and  the  knowledge  that  my  mission  has  been 
satisfactorily  carried  out  will,   I  hope,  bring  comfort  to  Their 
Imperial    Majesties    in  their    anxiety.     I   beg    that    you  will 
memorialise  the  Throne  accordingly. — Tsai  Feng." 

The  Empress  Dowager  was  pleased  to  express  her 
approval  of  the  result  of  this  mission,  which  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Chinese  Government  was  undoubtedly  one  of  those 
diplomatic  triumphs  which  China  appears  to  attain  most 
easily  when  her  material  resources  have  completely  failed. 
Reading  the  above  despatch,  it  is  difficult  to  realise  that 
the  Prince's  mission  had  for  its  object  the  expiation  of  a 
brutal  murder  committed,  with  the  full  approval  of  the 
Chinese  Government  and  Court,  on  the  representative  of  a 
friendly  nation.  The  opinion  was  commonly  held  by  the 
Legations  at  Peking,  that  the  Regent  learned  much  from 
that  penitential  mission  to  the  German  capital.  In  1910 
1  This  is  the  Chinese  date ;  the  day  of  the  audience  was  the  4th  September. 


THE   OLD   BUDDHA   PENITENT  241 

his  brothers  were  engaged  on  missions  ostensibly  intended 
to  acquire  knowledge  for  the  sorely  needed  reorganisation 
of  China*s  army  and  navy,  missions  which  were  received 
with  royal  honours  by  almost  every  civilised  Power;  but 
there  were  many  close  observers  of  the  changing  conditions 
at  Peking  who  saw  in  these  missions  merely  a  repetition 
of  farces  that  had  often  been  played  before,  and  an  attempt 
to  gain  prestige  in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese  people  for 
the  Regent's  family  and  the  Court,  rather  than  any  definite 
intention  or  desire  to  reform  the  official  system. 


XVII 

THE  RETURN   OF   THE  COURT  TO   PEKING 

The  state  of  mind  of  the  Empress  Dowager  during  the 
flight  from  the  capital,  and  subsequently  while  the  Court 
remained  in  exile  at  Hsi-an,  was  marked  by  that  same 
quality  of  indecision  and  vacillating  impulse  which  had 
characterised  her  actions  throughout  the  Boxer  crisis  and 
the  siege  of  Peking.  This  may  be  ascribed  partly  to  her 
advancing  age  and  partly  to  the  conflicting  influences  of 
astrologers  and  fortune-tellers,  to  whose  advice  she  attached 
the  greatest  importance  in  all  times  of  peril.  We  have 
dealt  in  another  place  with  her  marked  susceptibility  to 
omens  and  superstitious  beliefs;  its  effect  is  most  notice- 
able, however,  at  this  stage  of  her  life,  and  was  conspicuous 
in  matters  of  small  detail  throughout  the  return  journey 
to  Peking. 

The  influence  of  Jung  Lu  at  Hsi-an,  and  that  of  Li 
Hung-chang  at  Peking,  had  been  systematically  exercised 
to  induce  Her  Majesty  to  return  to  the  capital ;  but  until 
the  Peace  Protocol  conditions  had  been  definitely  arranged, 
and  until  she  had  been  persuaded  to  decree  adequate 
punishment  upon  the  Boxer  leaders,  the  predominant  feel- 
ing in  her  mind  was  evidently  one  of  suspicion  and  fear, 
as  was  shown  when  she  ordered  the  hurried  flight  from 
T*ai-yuan  fu  to  Hsi-an.  The  influence  of  Li  Hung-chang, 
who,  from  the  outset,  had  realised  the  folly  committed  by 
the  Chinese  Government  in  approving  the  attack  upon  the 
Legations,  was  exercised  to  create  in  the  mind  of  Her 
Majesty  a  clearer  sense  of  the  folly  of  that  policy.  At  the 
height  of  the  crisis  (21st  July  1900),  realising  that  the 
foreign  forces  brought  to  bear  upon  China  were  steadily 
defeating  both  Boxers  and  Imperial  troops,  she  appointed 
Li  Hung-chang  to  be  Viceroy  of  Chihli,  and  directed  that 

242 


His  Highness  Prince  Tsai  Hsun. 

Brother  of  the  late  Emperor  and  Present  Regent — recently  head  ot  the  Naval 
Mission  to  Europe  and  America. 


I 


. 


(  a  c     c 


C  O  C         c 

c  c  c  c    cc 

o     c  c  c   c  c 

C     <.     »  t  C«    c 


THE   RETURN  OF  THE  COURT  TO  PEKING    243 

he  should  proceed  from  Canton  with  all  haste,  there  being 
urgent  need  of  the  services  of  a  diplomat  versed  in  foreign 
affairs.  Her  Majesty  went  so  far  as  to  suggest  that  he 
should  proceed  from  Shanghai  to  Tientsin  in  a  Russian 
vessel  which  ''he  might  borrow  for  the  purpose."  Li 
Hung-chang's  reply,  telegraphed  to  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  for 
transmission  to  the  Throne,  while  outwardly  respectful, 
clearly  implies  that  Her  Majesty  has  been  to  blame  for 
the  disasters  then  occurring.  "I  am  sincerely  grateful," 
he  says,  "for  Your  Majesty's  gratifying  confidence  in  me, 
but  cannot  help  recalling  to  mind  the  folly  which  has  now 
suddenly  destroyed  that  structure  of  reformed  administra- 
tion which,  during  my  twenty  years'  term  of  office  as 
Viceroy  of  Chihli,  I  was  able  to  build  up  not  unsuccess- 
fully. I  fear  it  will  not  be  possible  for  me  to  resume  the 
duties  of  this  difficult  post  at  a  time  of  crisis  like  the 
present,  destitute  as  I  am  of  all  proper  and  material 
resources."  He  proceeds  even  to  criticise  Her  Majesty's 
suggestion  as  to  his  journey,  observing  that  "Russia 
possesses  no  vessel  at  Shanghai,  and  would  certainly  refuse 
to  lend  if  she  had  one,  in  view  of  the  state  of  war  now 
existing."  Finally,  he  excuses  himself  for  deferring  his 
departure,  on  the  ground  that  the  British  Minister  had 
requested  him  not  to  leave  until  the  foreign  Ministers  had 
been  safely  escorted  from  Peking  to  Tientsin.  "I  do  not 
know,"  says  he,  "if  any  such  arrangements  for  safely 
escorting  them  can  be  made,"  and  therefore  concludes  by 
asking  Yiian  to  inform  the  Throne  that  he  will  start  north- 
wards, journeying  by  land,  "as  soon  as  his  health  permits 
it."  To  this  plain-spoken  message  from  the  great  Viceroy, 
Tzu  Hsi  replied  in  two  lines  of  equally  characteristic  direct- 
ness :  "Li  Hung-chang  is  to  obey  our  earlier  Decree,  and 
to  make  all  haste  northwards.  The  crisis  is  serious.  Let 
him  make  no  further  excuses  for  delay." 

In  spite  of  these  peremptory  orders,  Li  Hung-chang, 
who  had  a  very  definite  conception  of  his  own  predica- 
ment, remained  at  Shanghai,  ostensibly  negotiating,  but 
in  reality  waiting,  to  see  what  would  be  the  outcome  of 
the  siege  of  the  Legations.     He  was  interviewed  by  The 


244    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Times  correspondent  at  Shanghai  on  the  23rd  of  July, 
and  then  stated  that  he  would  not  proceed  to  his  post  in 
the  north  until  convinced  by  clear  proofs  that  the  Empress 
Dowager  had  seen  the  folly  of  her  ways,  and  was  prepared 
to  adopt  a  conciliatory  policy  towards  the  outraged  foreign 
Powers.  At  the  end  of  July,  when  it  became  clear  to  him 
that  the  Court  had  determined  on  flight,  he  forwarded  by 
special  courier  a  very  remarkable  memorial,  in  which  he 
called  the  Throne  to  task  in  the  plainest  possible  terms, 
and  urged  an  immediate  change  of  policy.  This  memorial 
reached  the  Empress  before  her  departure  from  Peking, 
and  its  plain-spoken  advice  was  not  without  effect  on  the 
Empress  Dowager.  The  Decrees  issued  by  her  in  the 
name  of  the  Emperor  from  Huai-lai  on  the  19th  and  20th 
of  August  are  the  first  indications  given  to  the  outside 
world  that  she  had  definitely  decided  on  a  policy  of  con- 
ciliation so  as  to  render  possible  her  eventual  return  to 
the  capital — an  event  which,  as  she  foresaw,  would  prob- 
ably be  facilitated  by  the  inevitable  differences  and  jea- 
lousies already  existing  among  the  Allies. 

In  the  Edict  of  the  19th  of  August,  after  explaining  that 
the  whole  Boxer  crisis  and  the  attack  on  the  Legations  was 
the  result  of  differences  between  Christian  and  non-Chris- 
tian Chinese,  she  querulously  complains  that  the  foreign 
Powers,  although  doubtless  well  meaning  in  their  efforts 
to  "exterminate  the  rebels,"  are  behaving  in  a  manner 
which  suggests  aggressive  designs  towards  China,  and 
which  shows  a  lamentable  disregard  of  proper  procedure 
and  friendliness.  She  naively  observes  that  the  Chinese 
Government  had  been  at  the  greatest  pains  to  protect  the 
lives  and  property  of  foreigners  in  Peking,  in  spite  of 
many  difficulties,  and  expresses  much  surprise  at  such  an 
evil  return  being  made  for  her  invariable  kindness  and 
courtesy.  If  it  were  not  for  the  unbounded  capacity  of 
foreign  diplomats,  fully  proved  in  the  past,  in  the  matter 
of  credulity  where  Chinese  statecraft  is  concerned,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  regard  utterances  like  these  as  the  work  of 
an  intelligent  ruler.  But  Tzii  Hsi  was,  as  usual,  justified, 
for  at  the  very  time  when  these  Decrees  were  issued,  Russia 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  COURT  TO  PEKING    245 

was  already  using  very  similar  arguments,  and  making 
excuses  for  the  Chinese  government,  in  pursuance  of  her 
own  policy  at  Peking. 

In  the  conclusion  of  the  Decree  above  referred  to,  Her 
Majesty  orders  Jung  Lu,  HsU  T'ung  and  Ch*ung  Ch'i  to 
remain  in  Peking  to  act  as  peace  negotiators,  but  she 
admits  that,  in  dealing  with  foreigners  supported  by  troops 
and  flushed  with  success,  it  may  be  difficult  for  them  at  the 
outset  to  determine  on  a  satisfactory  line  of  procedure.  She 
leaves  it  to  these  plenipotentiaries,  therefore,  to  determine 
whether  the  best  course  would  be  to  telegraph  to  the 
respective  Foreign  Offices  of  the  countries  concerned,  or  to 
consult  with  the  Consuls-General  at  Shanghai  {sic)j  with 
a  view  to  obtaining  friendly  intervention  I  It  could  not 
escape  so  shrewd  a  person  as  Tzu  Hsi  that  the  atmosphere 
of  Peking  at  this  juncture  was  not  likely  to  be  favourable 
to  her  purposes,  and  that  it  would  be  easier  to  hoodwink 
the  Foreign  Offices  and  the  Consuls  at  Shanghai  than  those 
who  had  just  been  through  the  siege. 

A  Decree  of  the  following  day,  also  in  the  name  of  the 
Emperor,  is  couched  in  a  very  different  strain — a  pathetic 
admission  of  the  Throne's  guilt,  a  plea  for  the  sympathy 
of  his  people,  and  an  exhortation  to  return  to  ways  of 
wisdom.  "Cleanse  your  hearts,  and  remove  all  doubt  and 
suspicion  from  your  minds,  so  as  to  assist  us,  the  Emperor, 
in  our  shortcomings.  We  have  been  utterly  unworthy, 
but  the  time  is  at  hand  when  it  shall  be  for  us  to  prove 
that  Heaven  has  not  left  us  without  sense  of  our  errors  and 
deep  remorse."  The  whole  document  reads  with  an  un- 
usual ring  of  sincerity,  accepting,  in  the  name  of  the 
Emperor,  full  blame  for  all  the  disasters  which  had  over- 
taken the  country,  while  reminding  the  official  class  that 
the  first  cause  of  these  calamities  dates  back  to  the  time 
when  they  learned  and  adopted  habits  of  inveterate  sloth 
and  luxury.  From  depths  of  contrition,  the  Edict  admits 
fully  the  Throne's  responsibility:  "We,  the  Lord  of  this 
Empire,  have  failed  utterly  in  warding  off  calamities  from 
our  people,  and  we  should  not  hesitate  for  one  moment 
to  commit  suicide,  in  order  to  placate  our  tutelary  deities 


246    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

and  the  gods  of  the  soil,  but  we  cannot  forget  that  duty 
of  filial  piety  and  service  which  we  owe  to  our  sacred  and 
aged  mother,  the  Empress  Dowager." 

The  policy  of  reform  is  now  clearly  enunciated  and 
outlined  as  an  essential  condition  of  the  future  government 
of  the  Empire.  Provincial  and  metropolitan  officials  are 
ordered  to  proceed  at  once  to  join  the  Court,  in  order  that 
the  reform  programme  may  be  speedily  initiated;  the 
Yangtsze  Viceroys  are  thanked  for  preserving  order  in 
accordance  with  "treaty  stipulations,"  and  Chinese  converts 
to  Christianity  are  once  more  assured  of  the  Throne's 
protection  and  good-will. 

These  utterances  of  the  Throne,  which  lost  nothing  in 
their  presentation  to  the  respective  Powers  by  Prince 
Ch'ing  and  his  colleagues,  soon  produced  the  desired  effect, 
and  reassured  the  Throne  and  its  advisers  as  to  their  per- 
sonal safety.  Accordingly,  early  in  September,  we  find 
all  the  Viceroys  and  high  officials  of  the  Provinces  uniting 
in  a  Memorial,  whereby  the  Court  is  urged  to  return  at 
once  to  the  capital,  advice  which  would  never  have  been 
given  had  there  been  any  question  of  violent  measures 
being  taken  by  the  Allies  against  the  Empress  Dowager. 
At  this  time  the  question  of  the  future  location  of  the 
Chinese  capital  was  being  widely  discussed  at  Court,  and 
there  was  much  conflicting  advice  on  the  subject.  The 
Viceroys'  memorial  was  drafted  by  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  and 
forwarded  by  him  to  Liu  K'un-yi,  at  Nanking,  for  trans- 
mission ;  it  definitely  blames  the  Boxers  and  their  leaders 
for  the  ruin  which  had  come  upon  China,  and  rejoices  at 
the  thought  that  "the  perplexities  which  embarrassed  Your 
Majesties  in  the  past  have  now  given  place  to  a  clearer 
understanding  of  the  situation."  Noting  the  possibility  of 
the  Court's  leaving  T'ai-yuan  fu  and  making  "a  further 
progress"  westwards  to  Hsi-an,  the  memorialists  deplored 
the  idea  and  proceeded  to  show  that  such  a  step  would 
be  unwise  as  well  as  inconvenient. 

After  referring  to  the  fact  that  the  cradle  of  the  Dynasty 
and  the  tombs  of  its  ancestors  are  situated  near  Peking,  and 
that  it  is  geographically  best  fitted  to  be  the  centre  of 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  COURT  TO   PEKING    247 

Government,  the  memorialists  reminded  the  Throne  that 
the  foreign  Powers  had  promised  to  vacate  Peking,  and 
to  refrain  from  annexing  any  territory  if  the  Court  will 
return.  These  ends,  they  said,  would  not  be  attained 
should  the  Court  persist  in  its  intention  to  proceed  further 
westwards,  since  it  was  now  the  desire  of  the  foreign 
Ministers  that  China's  rulers  should  return  to  Peking.  In 
the  event  of  a  permanent  occupation  of  Peking  by  the 
Allies,  the  loss  of  Manchuria  would  be  inevitable.  The 
memorialists  predicted  partition  and  many  other  disasters, 
including  financial  distress,  and  the  impossibility  of 
furnishing  the  Throne  with  supplies  at  Hsi-an  or  any  other 
remote  corner  of  the  Empire.  If  the  Court's  decision  to 
proceed  to  Hsi-an  was  irrevocable,  at  least  a  Decree  should 
be  issued,  stating  that  its  sojourn  there  would  be  a  brief 
one,  and  that  the  Court  would  return  to  Peking  upon 
the  complete  restoration  of  peaceful  conditions.  "The 
continued  existence  of  the  Empire  must  depend  upon  the 
Throne's  decision  upon  this  matter."  The  Memorial  con- 
cluded by  imploring  Their  Majesties  to  authorise  Prince 
Ch'ing  to  inform  the  foreign  Ministers  that  the  withdrawal 
of  the  allied  armies  would  be  followed  by  a  definite 
announcement  as  to  the  Court's  return. 

In  a  further  memorial  from  the  Viceroys  and  Governors, 
it  was  stated  that  the  Russian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
had  suggested  to  the  Chinese  Minister  in  St.  Petersburg, 
that  the  location  of  the  capital  at  Hsi-an  would  certainly 
prove  undesirable,  in  view  of  the  poverty-stricken  condition 
of  the  province,  and  that  Their  Majesties  would  no  doubt, 
therefore,  proceed  to  Lan-chou  fu,  in  Kansu. 

Before  coming  to  a  decision,  however,  Tzu  Hsi  required 
to  be  fully  assured  that  the  foreign  Powers  would  not  insist 
on  her  abdicating  the  supreme  power  as  one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  peace.  Convinced  on  that  point,  the  hesitation 
which  she  had  previously  shown  in  regard  to  returning  to 
Peking  dropped  from  her  like  a  garment.  It  had  been 
freely  predicted  by  conservative  officials  and  the  literati 
that  the  Old  Buddha  would  never  again  wish  to  see  her 
desecrated  capital  or  to  visit  the  polluted  shrines  of  her 


248    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

ancestors.  In  spite  of  her  superstitious  nature,  however, 
she  was  far  too  level-headed  and  far-seeing  a  woman  to 
attach  supreme  importance  to  sentimental  considerations, 
or  to  allow  them  to  weigh  heavily  in  the  balance  when  the 
question  of  her  own  rulership  was  at  stake.  The  hesitation 
which  she  had  shown  and  the  attention  which  she  had 
paid  to  the  advice  of  those  who,  like  Chang  Chih-tung, 
desired  her  to  establish  a  new  capital  in  Central  China, 
were  primarily  a  question  of  "face."  She  would  only 
return  to  Peking  if  guaranteed  the  full  dignity  and  power 
of  her  former  position.  But  as  the  peace  negotiations  pro* 
ceeded,  and  as  it  became  clear  to  her  that  along  the  well- 
worn  path  of  international  jealousies  she  might  return 
unpunished,  and  even  welcomed,  to  Peking,  she  proceeded 
to  make  preparations  for  an  early  return.  Fully  informed 
each  day  by  Prince  Ch'ing  of  the  progress  which  her 
plenipotentiaries  were  making  towards  the  completion  of 
the  Peace  Protocol,  and  overjoyed  at  its  terms,  she  waited 
only  until  the  condition  of  the  roads,  always  more  or  less 
impassable  after  the  summer  rains,  had  sufficiently  im- 
proved to  permit  of  comfortable  travelling.  During  the 
delay  necessitated  by  the  collecting  and  packing  of  the 
enormous  quantity  of  "tribute"  collected  by  Her  Majesty 
and  the  Court  during  their  stay  at  Hsi-an,  she  received 
definite  confirmation  of  the  good  news  that  her  treasure 
vaults  in  the  capital  had  not  been  plundered  by  the  foreign 
troops — good  news  which  increased  her  anxiety  to  return 
as  quickly  as  possible  to  superintend  its  removal  before 
any  pilfering  by  the  eunuchs  should  take  place. 

It  was  on  the  24th  day  of  the  8th  Moon  (20th  October, 
1901)  that  the  long  procession  started  from  Her  Majesty's 
temporary  residence  in  the  Governor's  Yamen ;  followed  by 
an  enormous  retinue,  she  commenced  her  journey  by 
sacrificing  to  the  God  of  War,  the  guardian  spirit  of  her 
Dynasty  (and,  it  may  be  added,  patron  of  the  Boxers),  at  a 
small  temple  outside  the  city  gates.  From  this  onward  the 
Court  advanced  northward  by  easy  stages  of  about  twenty- 
five  miles  a  day,  resting  first  at  Ho-nan  fu ;  thence  on  to 
K'ai-feng,  where  her  sixty-sixth  birthday  was  celebrated 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  COURT  TO  PEKING    249 

and  where  she  remained  for  some  weeks.  The  travelling 
lodges  and  other  arrangements  for  her  comfort  and  con- 
venience along  the  whole  line  of  her  route  were  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  squalor  and  privation  which  the  Court  had 
endured  in  the  flight  from  Peking. 

It  was  during  her  stay  at  K'ai-feng  that  the  Peace  Pro- 
tocol was  signed  at  Peking.  It  was  also  before  her 
departure  from  that  city,  at  the  end  of  the  9th  Moon,  that 
Li  Hung-chang  died.  His  knowledge  of  foreign  affairs 
and  remarkable  ability  in  negotiations  had  been  of  the 
greatest  service  to  his  Imperial  mistress,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  liberal  terms  granted  to  China  by  the 
victorious  Allies  were  very  largely  due  to  his  efforts.  Her 
Majesty,  while  fully  appreciating  his  ability,  had  never 
treated  him  with  marked  favour,  and  had  always  refused 
to  appoint  him  to  the  Grand  Council,  giving  as  her  excuse 
that  she  could  not  understand  his  dialect.  Upon  his  death, 
however,  she  conferred  upon  him  an  honour  which  had 
never  before  been  granted  to  any  Chinese  subject  under 
the  Dynasty,  namely,  that  of  having  a  shrine  built  to  his 
memory  at  the  capital  itself,  in  additio;i  to  those  erected 
in  the  provinces  where  he  had  borne  office. 

It  was  significant  of  her  impartial  and  intelligent  ruler- 
ship  that,  although  she  had  blamed  him  as  originally 
responsible  for  the  Japanese  War  and  its  disastrous  results, 
she  had  never  approved  of  the  Emperor's  hasty  and  vin- 
dictive action  in  removing  him  from  the  Viceroyalty  of 
Chihli.  Upon  the  signing  of  the  Peace  Protocol  she  con- 
ferred additional  posthumous  honours  upon  him,  taking 
occasion  at  the  same  time,  in  an  Imperial  Decree,  to  con- 
gratulate and  thank  Prince  Ch'ing,  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  and 
others,  who  assisted  in  bringing  about  the  settlement  of 
peace  terms.  In  particular  she  praised  the  loyalty  of  Jung 
Lu,  "who  had  earnestly  advised  the  annihilation  of  the 
Boxers,  and  who,  in  addition  to  other  meritorious  services 
on  the  Grand  Council,  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in 
protecting  the  Legations." 

After  a  series  of  magnificent  theatrical  entertainments  in 
honour  of   her  birthday,   the   Court   left   K'ai-feng   and 


250    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

continued  its  journey  to  the  capital.  On  the  eve  of  her  de- 
parture Her  Majesty  took  occasion  sternly  and  publicly  to 
rebuke  the  Manchu  Prefect,  Wen  T'i/  who  had  dared  to 
advise  her  against  returning  to  the  capital,  and  to  predict 
that  the  treacherous  foreigners  would  certainly  seize  her 
sacred  person — a  useful  piece  of  play  to  the  gallery. 

At  the  crossing  of  the  Yellow  River,  which  took  place  in 
beautiful  weather,  she  sacrificed  to  the  River  God,  in  expia- 
tion and  thanksgiving.  The  local  officials  had  constructed 
a  magnificent  barge,  in  the  form  of  a  dragon,  upon  which 
she  and  the  ladies  of  the  Court  crossed  the  stream.  It  was 
noticed  from  this  point  onwards  that  wherever  foreigners 
happened  to  be  amongst  the  spectators  of  the  Imperial 
cortege,  she  made  a  point  of  showing  them  particular 
attention  and  civility,  and  before  her  arrival  in  Peking  she 
issued  a  Decree  commanding  that  Europeans  should  not  be 
prevented  from  watching  the  procession  upon  her  arrival, 
and  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that,  in  accordance  with  the 
usual  custom,  the  Legations  had  issued  notices  forbidding 
their  nationals  to  appear  in  the  streets  during  the  passage 
of  the  Imperial  cortege.  Everything  indicated,  in  fact,  that 
Her  Majesty  now  desired  to  conciliate  the  European 
Powers  by  all  possible  means,  and  if  it  be  borne  in  mind 
that  it  was  part  of  her  deliberate  policy  thus  to  ingratiate 
herself  with  foreigners  as  a  means  of  furthering  her  own 
future  policy,  her  actions  lose  nothing  of  interest,  while 
they  gain  something  from  the  humorous  point  of  view. 

On  crossing  the  borders  of  the  Province  of  Chihli,  Her 
Majesty  issued  a  Decree,  couched  in  almost  effusive  terms 
of  friendliness,  proclaiming  that  the  Emperor  would  receive 
the  foreign  Ministers  in  audience  immediately  upon  his 
return  to  the  palace,  and  that  the  reception  would  take 
place  in  the  central  Throne  Hall  of  the  sacred  enclosure. 
Chinese,  reading  this  Decree,  and  ignorant  of  the  terms  of 
the  Peace  Protocol  which  provided  for  this  particular  con- 
cession to  the  barbarian,  would  naturally  regard  it  as  a 
spontaneous  mark  of  the  Imperial  clemency  and  goodwill. 
In  the  same  Edict  Her  Majesty  proclaimed  her  intention  of 
1  Wen  T'i  had  been  a  censor  in  1898,  but  was  cashiered  by  the  Emperor 
or  being  reactionary.  Tzu  Hsi  restored  him  to  fayoyr  ^fter  the  rflt//> 
d'dtat. 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  COURT  TO  PEKING    251 

receiving  the  Ministers'  wives  in  person,  intimating  that 
she  cherished  most  pleasant  memories  of  past  friendly  inter- 
course with  them.  Here,  again,  we  note  fulfilment  of  a 
plan,  deliberately  conceived  and  formed  upon  the  best 
classical  models,  "for  dealing  with  strong  and  savage 
people." 

At  noon  on  the  6th  of  January  1902  the  Imperial  party 
arrived  by  special  train  at  the  temporary  station  which  had 
been  erected  close  to  the  southern  walls  of  Peking,  and  ad- 
joining the  old  terminus  at  Ma-chia  p*u.  Large  pavilions, 
handsomely  decorated,  had  been  erected  near  the  station, 
in  which  the  Old  Buddha  and  the  Emperor  were  to  be 
received ;  they  were  furnished  with  a  throne  of  gold  lacquer, 
cloisonne  altar  vessels  and  many  valuable  pieces  of  porce- 
lain. Several  hundreds  of  the  highest  metropolitan  officials 
were  in  attendance,  and  a  special  place  had  been  provided 
for  foreigners.  As  the  long  train  of  over  thirty  carriages 
drew  up  at  the  station,  the  keen  face  of  the  Old  Buddha 
was  seen  anxiously  scanning  her  surroundings  from  one 
of  the  windows  of  her  car.  With  her  were  the  young 
Empress  and  the  Princess  Imperial,  while  the  chief  eunuch, 
Li  Lien-ying,  was  in  attendance.  Recognising  Her 
Majesty,  every  official  fell  upon  his  knees,  whilst  Chi  Lu, 
chief  officer  of  the  Household,  officiously  shouted  to  the 
foreigners  to  remove  their  hats  (which  they  had  already 
done).  The  first  to  emerge  from  the  train  was  the  chief 
eunuch,  who  proceeded  forthwith  to  check  the  long  list  of 
provincial  tribute  and  treasure,  mountainous  loads  of  bag- 
gage which  had  travelled  with  the  Court  from  the  start  and 
under  Her  Majesty's  close  personal  supervision.  After 
the  eunuch  came  the  Emperor,  evidently  extremely  nervous, 
who,  at  a  sign  from  Her  Majesty,  hurried  into  his  sedan- 
chair  and  was  swiftly  borne  away,  without  a  word  or  a 
sign  of  recognition  to  any  of  the  officials  in  attendance. 
After  his  departure,  the  Empress  came  out  and  stood  upon 
the  platform  at  the  end  of  her  carriage.  "Quite  a  number 
of  foreigners  are  here,  I  see,"  she  was  heard  to  observe. 
She  saluted  them  in  accordance  with  the  etiquette  observed 
by  Chinese  women — bowing  and  raising  her  crossed  hands. 
Prince  Ch'ing  then  advanced  to  greet  Her  Majesty,  and 


252    CHINA  UNDER! THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

with  him  Wang  Wen-shao  (who  had  succeeded  Li  Hung- 
chang  as  Peace  Plenipotentiary).  They  invited  Her 
Majesty  to  enter  her  chair:  "There  is  no  hurry,"  she 
repHed.  She  stood  for  some  five  minutes  in  full  view  of 
the  crowd,  talking  energetically  with  the  bystanders,  and 
looking  extremely  well  and  youthful  for  her  age,  until  the 
chief  eunuch  returned  and  handed  her  the  list  of  baggage 
and  treasure,  which  she  scanned  with  close  attention  and 
then  returned  to  him  with  an  expression  of  satisfaction. 

After  this,  at  the  request  of  the  Viceroy  of  Chihli  (Yuan 
Shih-k'ai),  the  foreign  manager  and  engineer  of  the  rail- 
way were  presented  to  her,  and  received  her  thanks  for  the 
satisfactory  arrangements  made  throughout  the  journey. 
She  then  entered  her  chair,  a  larger  and  finer  conveyance 
than  that  supplied  to  the  Emperor,  and  was  borne  away 
towards  the  palace;  by  her  side  ran  one  of  her  favourite 
eunuchs  repeatedly  calling  Her  Majesty's  attention  to 
objects  of  interest.  Whenever  foreigners  were  in  sight  he 
would  inform  Her  Majesty  of  the  fact,  and  by  one  he  was 
heard  distinctly  to  say  :  "Look  !  Old  Buddha,  look  quickly 
at  that  foreign  devil,"  whereupon  the  Empress  smiled  and 
bowed  most  affably.  Passing  through  the  southern  gate 
of  the  Chinese  city,  her  bearers  carried  her  straight  to  the 
large  enceinte,  of  the  Tartar  city  wall  at  the  Ch'ien-men, 
where  stands  the  shrine  dedicated  to  the  tutelary  God  of 
the  Manchus.  Here  crowds  of  foreigners  were  in  waiting 
on  the  wall.  Looking  down  on  the  courtyard  towards  the 
shrine,  they  saw  the  Old  Buddha  leave  her  chair  and  fall 
upon  her  knees  to  burn  incense  before  the  image  of  the 
God  of  War,  whilst  several  Taoist  priests  chanted  the 
ritual.  Rising  she  next  looked  up  towards  the  foreigners, 
smiling  and  bowing,  before  she  was  carried  away  through 
the  gate  into  the  precincts  of  the  Forbidden  City.  No 
sooner  had  she  reached  the  inner  palace  (the  Ning  Shou 
kung)  at  about  2  p.m.,  than  she  commanded  the  eunuchs 
to  commence  digging  up  the  treasure  which  had  been 
buried  there  at  the  time  of  her  flight;  she  was  gratified 
beyond  measure  to  find  that  it  had  indeed  remained 
untouched. 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  COURT  TO  PEKING    253 

Next,  with  an  eye  not  only  upon  her  future  relations 
with  foreigners  but  also  on  public  opinion  throughout  the 
Empire,  she  issued  a  Decree  conferring  posthumous 
honours  on  the  Pearl  Concubine,  who,  as  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  thrown  down  a  well  by  her  orders  on  the 
morning  of  the  Court's  flight  from  the  palace.  In  this 
Decree  Her  Majesty  praises  the  virtue  and  admirable 
courage  of  the  dead  woman,  which  "led  her  virtuously  to 
commit  suicide  when  unable  to  catch  up  the  Court  on  its 
departure,"  unwilling  as  she  was  to  witness  the  destruction 
and  pollution  of  the  ancestral  shrines.  Her  trustworthy 
conduct  was  therefore  rewarded  by  the  granting  of  a  post- 
humous title  and  by  promotion  of  one  step  in  rank  in  the 
Imperial  harem.  The  Decree  was  generally  regarded  as 
fulfilling  all  reasonable  requirements  of  atonement  towards 
the  deceased,  for  in  China  the  dead  yet  live  and  move  in 
a  shadowy,  but  none  the  less  real,  hierarchy.  Alive,  a 
Pearl  Concubine  more  or  less  counted  for  little  when 
weighed  against  the  needs  of  the  Old  Buddha's  policies; 
once  dead,  however,  her  spirit  must  needs  be  conciliated 
and  compensated. 

Many  Europeans  who  had  witnessed  the  arrival  of  the 
Empress  Dowager,  remained  at  the  railway  station  to  see 
the  unloading  of  her  long  baggage  train,  a  most  interesting 
and  instructive  sight.  First  were  discharged  the  yellow 
chairs  of  the  young  Empress  and  the  Princess  Imperial, 
and  four  green  chairs  with  yellow  borders  for  the  principal 
concubines ;  the  other  ladies  of  the  Court  followed  in  official 
carts,  two  to  each  vehicle.  There  were  about  ninety  of 
them  altogether,  and  the  arrangements  for  their  convey- 
ance were  accompanied  by  no  little  noise  and  confusion,  the 
loquacity  of  some  of  the  elder  ladies  being  most  noticeable. 
After  their  departure  the  attention  of  the  eunuchs  and 
minor  officials  was  directed  to  the  huge  pile  of  the  Empress 
Dowager's  personal  baggage,  which  included  her  cooking 
utensils  and  household  articles  in  daily  use.  This  opera- 
tion, as  well  as  the  removal  of  a  very  large  quantity  of 
bullion  (every  case  of  which  was  marked  with  the  name  of 
the  province  or  city  that  had  sent  it  as  tribute),  was  for  a 


254    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

time  superintended  by  the  Grand  Council.  But  as  the 
work  was  enough  to  last  for  several  hours,  it  was  not  long 
before,  led  by  Jung  Lu,  they  entered  their  chairs  and  left 
for  the  City.  It  was  noticed  that  Jung  Lu  seemed  very 
infirm,  and  was  supported  as  he  walked  by  two  attendants 
of  almost  gigantic  stature. 

Within  a  week  or  so  of  the  Court's  return,  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  foreign  Powers  were  duly  received  in  audience 
under  the  conditions  named  in  the  Peace  Protocol.  It  was 
observed  that  the  Old  Buddha  assumed,  as  of  old,  the 
highest  seat  on  the  Throne  dais,  the  Emperor  occupying 
a  lower  and  almost  insignificant  position.  At  the  sub- 
sequent reception  of  the  Minister's  wives,  in  the  Pavilion 
of  Tranquil  Longevity,  the  wife  of  the  doyen  of  the  Diplo- 
matic Corps  presented  an  address  to  "welcome  Her 
Imperial  Majesty  back  to  her  beautiful  capital."  The 
document  was  most  cordially,  almost  effusively,  worded, 
and  showed  that  the  astute  and  carefully  pre-arranged 
measures  taken  by  the  Empress  to  conciliate  the  foreign 
Powers  by  adroit  flattery  and  "allurements"  had  already 
attained  their  desired  effect.  Already  the  horrors  of  the 
siege,  the  insults  and  the  arrogance  of  1900,  were  forgotten  ; 
already  the  representatives  of  the  Powers  were  prepared, 
as  of  old,  to  vie  with  each  other  in  attempts  to  purchase 
Chinese  favour  by  working  each  against  the  other. 

In  receiving  the  address  of  the  ladies  of  the  Diplomatic 
Body,  Her  Majesty  created  a  marked  impression  by  the 
emotion  with  which  she  referred  to  her  affectionate  regard 
for  Europeans  in  general  and  her  visitors  in  particular. 
With  every  evidence  of  complete  sincerity  she  explained 
that  a  "revolution  in  the  palace"  had  compelled  her  to 
flee  from  Peking;  she  deeply  regretted  the  inconvenience 
and  hardships  to  which  her  good  friends  of  the  Foreign 
Legations  had  been  so  unfortunately  subjected,  and  she 
hoped  for  a  renewal  of  the  old  cordial  relations.  The 
foreign  ladies  left  the  audience  highly  satisfied  with  the 
Empress  Dowager  for  her  condescension,  and  with  them- 
selves at  being  placed  in  a  position  to  display  such 
magnanimity.     This  audience  was  the  first  of  many  similar 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  COURT  TO  PEKING     255 

occasions,  and  reference  to  the  numerous  works  in  which 
the  social  side  of  Her  Majesty's  subsequent  relations  with 
Europeans  have  been  described  will  show  that  the  Old 
Buddha  had  not  greatly  erred  when  she  assured  Jung  Lu 
of  the  value  of  ancient  classical  methods  in  dealing  with 
barbarians,  and  promised  him  that  all  would  readily  be 
forgiven  and  forgotten  in  the  tactful  exercise  of  condescend- 
ing courtesies. 

Life  settled  down  then  into  the  old  grooves,  and  all  went 
on  as  before  in  the  capital  of  China,  the  garrisons  of  the 
Allies  soon  becoming  a  familiar  feature  in  the  streets  to 
which  gradually  the  traders  and  surviving  Chinese  resi- 
dents returned.  Once  more  began  the  farce  of  foreign 
intercourse  with  the  so-called  Government  of  the  Celestial 
Empire,  and  with  it  were  immediately  renewed  all  the 
intrigues  and  international  jealousies  which  alone  enable 
its  rulers  to  maintain  some  sort  of  equilibrium  in  the  midst 
of  conflicting  pressures. 

The  power  behind  the  Throne,  from  this  time  until  his 
death,  was  undoubtedly  Jung  Lu,  but  the  Foreign  Lega- 
tions, still  confused  by  memories  and  echoes  of  the  siege, 
and  suspicious  of  all  information  which  did  not  conform 
to  their  expressed  ideas  of  the  causes  of  the  Boxer  Rising, 
failed  to  realise  the  truth,  and  saw  in  him  a  suspect  who 
should  by  rights  have  suffered  punishment  with  his  fellow 
conspirators.  But  the  actual  facts  of  the  case,  and  his 
individual  actions  as  recorded  beyond  dispute  in  the  diary 
of  His  Excellency  Ching  Shan,  and  unmistakably  con- 
firmed by  other  independent  witnesses,  were  not  then 
available  in  the  Chancelleries.  Accordingly,  when  Jung 
Lu  first  paid  his  formal  official  calls  upon  the  Foreign 
Ministers,  he  was  anything  but  gratified  at  the  reception 
accorded  to  him.  In  vain  it  was  that  he  assured  one 
member  of  the  Diplomatic  Body,  with  whom  he  had  for- 
merly been  on  fairly  good  terms,  that  as  Heaven  was  his 
witness  he  had  done  nothing  in  1900  except  his  utmost 
to  defend  and  save  the  Legations;  his  statements  were 
entirely  disbelieved,  and  so  greatly  was  he  chagrined  at  the 
injustice  done  him,  that  he  begged  the  Empress  Dowager 


256    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

in  all  seriousness  to  allow  him  to  retire  from  the  Grand 
Council.  But  Tzu  Hsi,  fully  realising  the  situation, 
assured  him  of  her  complete  confidence,  and  in  a  highly 
laudatory  decree  refused  his  request. 

On  two  subsequent  occasions  before  her  death,  the  popu- 
lace and  the  foreign  community  in  Peking  were  afforded 
opportunities  of  witnessing  the  Empress  Dowager's  return 
to  the  city  from  short  excursions  by  railway,  and  on  each 
of  these  her  affable,  almost  familiar,  attitude  was  a  subject 
of  general  comment.  The  first  occasion  was  in  the  follow- 
ing spring,  when  she  visited  the  Eastern  Tombs,  and  upon 
her  return,  sacrificing  as  usual  before  the  shrine  of  the 
God  of  War  in  the  enceinte  of  the  Ch'ien-men,  she  talked 
volubly  with  several  of  the  ladies  whom  she  had  met  at 
Court.  After  emerging  from  the  Temple,  she  called  upon 
one  of  the  eunuchs  to  bring  her  opera  glasses,  with  which 
she  eagerly  scanned  the  crowd  looking  down  from  the  wall 
of  the  city,  waving  her  handkerchief  whenever  she  per- 
ceived a  familiar  face.  On  one  occasion  she  even  shouted 
up  an  enquiry  asking  after  the  health  of  the  daughter  of 
one  of  the  Foreign  Ministers.  The  Manchu  Princes  and 
Chamberlains  of  the  Court  were  unable  to  conceal  their 
indignation  and  wrath  at  such  condescension  on  the  part 
of  the  Empress  Dowager  towards  those  whom,  in  spite  of 
1900,  they  still  regarded  (and  regard  to  this  day)  as  outer 
barbarians.  So  much  incensed  were  they  that  they  even 
urged  Chi  Lu  to  get  Her  Majesty  to  desist,  and  to  re-enter 
her  chair,  an  invitation  to  which  she  paid  not  the  slightest 
attention,  being  evidently  well  pleased  at  the  violation  of 
ceremonial  etiquette  which  she  was  committing.  It  was 
noticed  that  the  Emperor,  on  the  other  hand,  took  no  notice 
whatsoever  of  the  foreigners,  and  seemed  to  be  sunk  in  a 
deep,  listless  melancholy. 

The  second  occasion  was  after  the  Empress  Dowager's 
visit  to  the  Western  Tombs,  in  April  1903,  four  days  after 
the  death  of  her  faithful  friend  and  adviser,  Jung  Lu.  On 
this  occasion  Her  Majesty  appeared  to  be  in  very  low 
spirits,  descending  from  the  train  slowly,  and  with  none  of 
her    wonted   vivacity.      She    greeted    Kuei    Hsiang,    her 


O 


^  > 


J  ^ 


c 

o 


U 


<    IS    . 


a, 
S 
W 


^ 


THE  RETURN    OF   THE   COURT   TO   PEKING    257 

brother,  who  was  kneeHng  on  the  platform  to  receive  her, 
with  one  curt  sentence,  *'You  have  killed  Jung  Lu  by 
recommending  that  useless  doctor,"  and  passed  on  to  her 
chair  without  another  word.  It  was  on  this  occasion, 
receiving  certain  foreign  ladies  in  the  travelling  palace 
erected  for  her  at  Pao-ting  fu,  that  the  Old  Buddha  alluded 
directly  to  the  massacres  of  foreign  missionaries  which  had 
taken  place  in  that  city,  "with  which  she  had,  of  course, 
nothing  to  do."  No  doubt  by  this  time,  and  by  force  of 
repetition,  Tzu  Hsi  had  persuaded  herself  of  her  complete 
innocence ;  but  however  this  may  be,  she  undoubtedly 
won  over  most  of  the  foreigners  with  whom  she  came  in 
contact,  by  the  charm  and  apparent  sincerity  of  her 
manner. 

Before  settling  down  to  the  accustomed  routine  of  life  in 
the  palace,  the  Empress  Dowager,  whose  penchant  for  per- 
sonal explanation  in  Imperial  Edicts  seemed  to  be  growing 
upon  her,  issued  a  Decree  which  gained  for  her  renewed 
sympathy  from  all  classes  of  Chinese  officials.  After  the 
usual  exhortations  to  her  faithful  subjects  to  co-operate 
loyally  in  her  schemes  for  Reform,  to  put  off  the  old  bad 
ways  and  to  persist  energetically  in  well-doing,  she  gives  a 
graphic  description  of  the  hardships  which  she  and  the 
Emperor  endured  during  her  compulsory  "tour  to  the 
west."  After  referring  to  the  unforgettable  shocks  and 
sorrows  of  that  journey,  the  Edict  says  :  — 

"  I  have  now  returned  once  more  to  my  palace,  and  find  the 
ancestral  Temples  reposing  as  of  old  in  dignified  and  unbroken 
serenity.  Beneath  the  deep  awe  which  overcomes  me  in  the 
presence  of  my  glorious  ancestors  my  soul  feels  an  added 
weight  of  grief  and  remorse,  and  I  only  hope  that  by  Heaven's 
continued  favour  I  may  yet  live  to  accomplish  some  meri- 
torious work." 


XVIII 

HER  majesty's   NEW   POLICY 

The  crisis  of  1900,  all  the  horror  of  that  abomination  of 
desolation  in  her  capital  and  the  hardships  of  her  wander- 
ing in  the  wilderness,  had  brought  home  to  the  Empress 
the  inherent  weakness  of  her  country  and  the  stern  neces- 
sity for  remedial  measures.  Already,  before  the  issue  of 
the  penitential  Decree,  quoted  in  an  earlier  chapter,  she 
had  announced  to  the  world,  with  characteristic  decision, 
her  intention  to  adopt  new  measures  and  to  break  with 
those  hoary  traditions  of  the  past  which,  as  she  had 
learned,  were  the  first  cause  of  the  rottenness  of  the  State. 
Her  subsequent  policy  became  in  fact  (though  she  was 
careful  never  to  admit  it)  a  justification  of  those  very 
measures  which  the  Emperor  had  so  enthusiastically 
inaugurated  in  1898,  but  her  methods  differed  from  his 
in  that  she  omitted  no  precaution  for  conciliating  the  con- 
flicting interests  about  the  Throne  and  for  disarming  the 
opposition  of  the  intransigeants  of  the  provinces. 

The  first  intimation  of  Her  Majesty's  conversion  to  new 
ideals  of  Government  was  given  to  the  world  in  an  Edict 
issued  at  Hsi-an  on  the  28th  January  1901,  in  the  name  of 
the  Emperor.  This  document,  drafted  with  the  assistance 
of  Jung  Lu,  is  a  remarkable  example  of  Tzu  Hsi's  mascu- 
line intelligence  and  statecraft,  though  somewhat  marred 
by  those  long-winded  repetitions  in  which  Chinese  Edicts 
abound.  It  was  received  with  enthusiastic  delight  by  the 
literati  throughout  the  Empire,  even  in  Canton  and  the 
southern  provinces,  where,  at  the  moment,  Her  Majesty 
was  not  personally  popular.  The  vernacular  Press  claimed 
it  as  the  most  striking  Edict  in  Chinese  history.  It  com- 
bined an  eloquent  appeal  to  the  people  to  accept  the 
principle  of  reform  together  with  a  masterful  justification 

258 


HER  MAJESTY'S  NEW  POLICY  259 

of  China  and  her  people  vis-d-vis  the  outside  world.  It 
was  most  skilfully  worded  so  as  to  placate  all  parties  in 
the  State  and  thus  to  enhance  the  reputation  of  the  Old 
Buddha.  The  "Young  China"  party  was  particularly 
enthusiastic,  for  by  this  Decree  Her  Majesty  definitely 
abandoned  the  principle  of  absolute  autocracy  which  had 
been  for  centuries  the  corner-stone  of  the  Chinese  system 
of  government.  It  was  realised  that  so  complete  a  de- 
parture from  the  traditions  of  the  Manchu  Dynasty,  of  the 
Imperial  Clan  and  of  all  her  previous  convictions,  could 
not  have  been  attained  but  for  the  bitter  lessons  of  1900, 
and,  admiration  was  therefore  the  more  keen  for  the  skill 
and  courage  with  which,  on  the  verge  of  old  age,  she 
resumed  the  burden  of  government  in  her  ravaged  capital. 
It  was  the  ruling  passion  bravely  asserted,  and  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  nation  could  hardly  be  withheld  from  a  ruler 
who  thus  bore  her  share  in  the  national  humiliation,  who 
so  frankly  accepted  responsibility  for  past  errors  and 
promised  new  and  better  methods  for  the  future. 

It  was,  of  course,  inevitable,  in  the  light  of  all  experi- 
ence, that  many  of  her  subjects,  as  well  as  most  foreigners, 
should  doubt  her  sincerity,  and  should  regard  this  Edict, 
like  many  others,  as  a  case  of  "when  the  devil  was  sick." 
But  gradually,  after  the  return  of  the  Court,  as  it  became 
clear  to  her  immediate  retainers  and  high  officials  that  this 
self-confident  woman  was  really  in  earnest,  and  as  she 
continued  steadily  to  impress  her  new  policy  upon  the 
reluctant  Clansmen,  her  popularity  with  the  people  at  large, 
and  especially  in  the  south  (where  it  had  been  much 
damaged  by  her  fierce  suppression  of  the  Cantonese 
reformers  of  1898),  was  gradually  restored.  From  this 
time  forward  to  the  end  of  her  life,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  good  or  bad  faith  of  her  advisers  and  chief 
officials,  every  act  of  her  career  is  stamped  with  unmis- 
takable signs  of  her  sincerity  in  the  cause  of  reform,  borne 
out  by  her  recorded  words  and  deeds. 

From  the  Boxer  movement  she  had  learned  at  a  bitter 
cost  the  lesson  she  was  now  putting  into  practice,  but  for 
all  that  she  remained  to  the  end  faithful  in  her  affection 


26o    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

for  the  memory  of  the  Boxer  leaders ;  to  the  last  she  never 
failed  to  praise  their  loyalty  to  her  person  and  the  patriotic 
bravery  of  their  attempt  to  expel  the  foreigner.  But  she 
had  been  compelled  to  learn  in  the  hard  school  of  experi- 
ence the  utter  hopelessness  of  that  attempt,  and  she  was 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that,  for  the  future,  and  until 
China  should  be  strong  enough,  all  anti-foreign  proceed- 
ings must  be  suppressed. 

Unflinchingly,  therefore,  she  announced  to  her  people  a 
change  of  front  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  China. 
Certain  it  is  (as  was  fully  proved  in  the  case  of  the  Emperor 
in  1898)  that  no  other  ruler  of  the  Dynasty  could  have  pro- 
claimed such  drastic  changes  without  causing  serious 
dissensions  and  possibly  civil  war.  But  so  masterly  were 
her  methods  of  dealing  with  the  necessities  of  the  situation, 
and  so  forcibly  did  the  style  and  arguments  of  her  Decrees 
appeal  to  the  literati,  that  they  carried  very  general  con- 
viction. Even  the  most  bigoted  Confucianists  were  won 
by  her  subtle  suggestions  as  to  what  would  have  been  the 
attitude  of  the  Sage  himself  if  confronted  by  such  problems 
as  the  nation  had  now  to  face. 

In  the  Decree  recording  her  conversion  the  Emperor  was 
made  to  renounce  and  condemn  the  Reformers  of  1898  and 
all  their  work.  This,  however  sincerely  convinced  Her 
Majesty  might  be  of  the  necessity  for  remedial  measures, 
was  only  natural.  For  it  was  never  one  of  the  weaknesses 
of  this  masterful  woman  to  make  direct  confession  of  error 
for  the  benefit  of  her  own  immediate  entourage ;  not  thus 
is  prestige  maintained  in  the  atmosphere  of  an  Oriental 
Court.  She  was  now  prepared  to  adopt  many  of  the 
reforms  which  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his  friends  had  advocated, 
but  for  all-important  purposes  of  **  face  "  it  must  be  made 
quite  clear  that,  in  her  hands,  they  were  something  radically 
different  and  superior.  In  promulgating  her  new  opinions 
she  could  not  afford  to  say  anything  which  might  be  con- 
strued as  direct  justification  of  that  reform  movement  which 
she  herself  had  so  ruthlessly  suppressed.  And  so  the 
"stupid  people"  must  clearly  understand  that  her  present 
programme  was  by  no  means  "revolutionary"  like  that  of 
K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his  "fellow-conspirators."     Neverthe- 


HER  MAJESTY'S  NEW  POLICY  261 

less,  her  proposals  for  reform  went  as  far  as  theirs,  and, 
in  some  cases,  even  further,  the  only  real  difference  being 
that  in  this  case  she,  the  Old  Buddha,  was  a  prime  mover, 
where  before  she  had  been  an  opponent. 

Looking  back  on  the  six  years  of  her  life  and  rule  which 
followed  the  return  from  exile,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt 
of  the  sincerity  of  her  conversion  to  reform,  although  there 
is  no  reason  to  believe  that  her  sentiments  towards 
foreigners  had  undergone  any  change  for  the  better.  The 
lesson  which  had  been  brought  home  to  her  with  crushing 
force  in  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Boxer  movement  and  in 
the  capture  of  Peking,  was  that  national  inefficiency  means 
national  extinction,  a  lesson  which  not  all  the  statesmen 
of  western  lands  have  fully  learned.  She  had  realised  that 
the  material  forces  of  the  western  world  were  not  to  be 
met  and  overthrown  by  quotations  from  the  classics,  and 
that,  if  China  was  to  continue  to  exist  as  an  independent 
State  she  must  follow  the  example  of  Japan  and  put  her 
house  in  order  with  equipment  and  defences  adapted  from 
western  models.  And  with  Tzu  Hsi  to  realise  was  to  act, 
a  quality  which,  more  than  all  others,  distinguished  her 
from  the  ruck  of -her  Manchu  kinsmen  and  officials,  sunk 
in  their  lethargic  fatalism  and  helplessness. 

The  situation  which  confronted  her  at  the  outset  was 
anything  but  simple.  Apart  from  the  time-honoured 
privileges  of  the  Imperial  clans,  whose  arrogant  ignorance 
she  had  come  to  appreciate  at  its  proper  value,  she  must 
needs  be  cautious  in  handling  the  susceptibilities  of  the 
provincial  gentry  and  literati,  the  backbone  of  China's 
collective  intelligence.  At  the  same  time,  as  far  as  the 
foreign  Powers  were  concerned,  she  must  be  careful  to 
preserve  to  the  full  that  dignity  on  which  her  prestige  with 
her  own  people  depended,  that  I'empire  c*est  moi 
attitude  which  had  been  rudely  shaken  by  the  events  of 
1900.  Not  as  the  chastened  penitent  would  she  appear  in 
their  eyes,  but  as  the  innocent  and  injured  victim  of  cir- 
cumstances beyond  her  control.  There  were,  in  fact, 
several  distinct  roles  to  be  played,  and  none  of  them  were 
easy. 

The  Edict  issued  from   Hsi-an  in   February    1901    had 


262    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

been  warmly  applauded  by  scholars  throughout  the  Empire 
as  a  literary  feat  of  the  first  order,  but  most  of  the  pro- 
vincial officials  (justified  by  all  tradition  and  experience) 
regarded  it  as  merely  a  classical  obiter  dictum,  and  pro- 
ceeded, therefore,  in  their  old  way,  certain  in  their  minds 
that  the  Old  Buddha  was  only  amusing  herself,  as  was 
her  wont,  by  throwing  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  barbarian, 
and  that  she  would  not  be  displeased  if  her  lieutenants  were 
to  proceed  slowly  in  carrying  them  into  effect.  Unto  the 
end,  even  in  the  face  of  the  earnest  exhortations  of  her 
valedictory  Decree,  there  were  many  provincial  officials 
who,  for  reasons  of  personal  prejudice  and  self-interest, 
professed  to  believe  that  the  Old  Buddha  had  been  merely 
playing  a  part,  but  we  can  find  nothing  in  her  official  or 
private  record  during  these  six  years  to  justify  that  belief. 
Just  before  her  return  to  Peking  she  issued  an  Edict  in 
which  her  own  convictions   were   very  clearly   indicated. 

"  Ever  since  my  sudden  departure  from  the  capital  a  year 
ago,"  she  declared,  "I  have  not  ceased  for  a  moment  to  brood 
over  the  causes  of  our  national  misfortunes  and  to  feel  deep 
remorse.  Now,  thanks  to  the  protection  of  our  tutelary  deities, 
I  am  about  to  return  to  the  capital.  Whenever  I  think  of  the 
reasons  for  our  undoing  and  the  causes  of  our  collective  weak- 
ness I  sincerely  deplore  the  fact  that  I  have  not  long  ago 
introduced  the  necessary  reforms,  but  I  am  now  fully  deter- 
mined to  put  in  force  all  possible  measures  for  the  reform  of  the 
State.  Abandoning  our  former  prejudices,  we  must  proceed 
to  adopt  the  best  European  methods  of  government.  I  am 
firmly  determined  to  work  henceforward  on  practical  lines,  so 
as  to  deliver  the  Empire  from  its  present  rotten  state.  Some 
of  the  necessary  measures  will  naturally  require  longer  periods 
of  preparation  than  others,  but  after  my  return  to  Peking  they 
must  one  and  all  gradually  be  introduced. 

"  In  view  of  the  urgent  importance  of  this  matter,  Jung  Lu 
and  his  colleagues  have  urged  me  to  make  a  clear  statement 
of  my  intentions  and  to  declare  without  possibility  of  hesitation 
or  doubt  the  irrevocable  decision  of  the  Throne,  so  that  every 
official  in  the  land  may  be  stimulated  to  sincere  and  unremitting 
co-operation.  For  this  reason  I  issue  the  present  Decree 
solemnly  recording  my  opinion  that  the  condition  of  the  Empire 
permits  of  no  further  evasion  or  delay  in  the  matter  of  reform. 
Therein  lies  our  only  hope  for  the  future.  Myself  and  the 
Emperor,   in  the  interests  of  all  that  we  hold  dear,   have  no 


HER  MAJESTY'S  NEW  POLICY  263 

alternative  but  to  face,  and  steadily  to  pursue,  this  new  policy ; 
we  must  make  up  our  minds  what  are  the  things  to  strive  for, 
and  employ  the  right  men  to  help  us  to  attain  them.  We  are, 
as  mother  and  son,  of  one  mind,  endeavouring  only  to  restore 
our  fallen  fortunes.  You,  our  people,  can  best  serve  by  united 
efforts  to  this  end." 

Tzu  Hsi  had  not  only  realised  the  vast  superiority 
of  the  material  forces  of  the  western  world,  but  she  had 
also  been  convinced  of  the  immense  intellectual  and 
political  forces  which  education  and  increased  means  of 
communication  were  steadily  creating  amongst  her  own 
subjects,  forces  with  which,  as  she  perceived,  the  effete 
and  ignorant  Manchus  would  have  to  reckon  sooner  or 
later.  It  is  quite  plain  from  her  Edicts  on  this  delicate 
subject  that  she  realised  clearly  the  dangers  which  threat- 
ened the  Manchu  rule.  She  saw  that  their  class  privileges, 
the  right  to  tribute,  and  all  the  other  benefits  of  sovereignty 
which  the  founders  of  the  Dynasty  had  won  by  force  of 
arms  and  opportunity,  had  now  become  an  anachronism, 
and  must  in  the  near  future  involve  the  Manchus  them- 
selves in  serious  dangers  and  difficulties,  unless,  by  fusion, 
means  could  be  found  to  avert  them.  Among  the  rules 
laid  down  by  the  founders  of  the  Dynasty  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  pure  Manchu  stock  was  that  which  forbade 
intermarriage  with  Chinese.  This  law,  though  frequently 
violated  in  the  garrisons  of  the  south,  had  remained 
generally  effective  within  the  metropolitan  province,  where 
it  had  served  its  purpose  of  maintaining  the  ruling  class 
and  its  caste.  But  the  Empress  had  now  come  to  under- 
stand that  if  China  was  to  be  preserved  as  a  sovereign 
State,  it  must  be  rather  by  means  of  Chinese  energy  and 
intelligence  grafted  on  to  the  Manchu  stock,  than  by  the 
latter's  separate  initiative.  In  January  1902,  immediately 
after  her  return  to  Peking,  she  gave  effect  to  her  con- 
victions on  this  subject  in  a  remarkable  Decree  whereby 
she  recommended  that,  for  the  future,  Manchus  and^ 
Chinese  should  intermarry.  "At  the  time  of  the  founding 
of  our  Dynasty,"  she  says,  "the  customs  and  languages  of 
the  two  races  were  greatly  different,  and  this  was  in  itself 


264    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

reason  sufficient  for  prohibiting  intermarriage.  But  at 
the  present  day,  little  or  no  difference  exists  between  them, 
and  the  time  has  come,  therefore,  to  relax  this  law  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Empire  as  a  whole,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  wishes  of  our  people."  In  the  same  Edict  Her  Majesty 
deprecated  the  Chinese  custom,  which  the  Manchus  had 
never  adopted,  of  foot-binding,  and  urged  that  the  educated 
classes  should  unite  to  oppose  a  custom  so  injurious  to  health 
and  inhuman  in  practice.  There  was,  however,  to  be  no 
compulsion  in  this  matter.  In  one  respect  only  did  she 
desire  to  adhere  to  the  exclusive  Manchu  traditions, 
namely,  as  regards  the  selection  of  secondary  wives  for 
the  Imperial  harem,  who  must  continue  to  be  chosen  ex- 
clusively from  Manchu  families;  she  did  not  desire  "to 
incur  any  risk  of  confusion  or  dissension  in  the  Palace,  nor 
to  fall  into  the  error  committed  by  the  Ming  Dynasty,  in 
the  indiscriminate  selection  of  concubines,  a  matter  affect- 
ing the  direct  and  legitimate  succession  to  the  Throne," 
Nor  would  she  expose  her  kinsmen  to  the  risk  of  conspiracy 
against  the  Dynasty  which  would  certainly  occur  if  the 
daughters  of  the  great  Chinese  houses  were  admitted  to 
the  palace.  The  law  had  been  laid  down  once  and  for 
all  by  Nurhachi,  and  it  was  binding  on  every  occupant  of 
the  Dragon  Throne,  namely,  "no  Manchu  eunuchs,  no 
Chinese  concubines." 

Her  next  step,  in  a  decree  which  frankly  deplored  the 
hopeless  ignorance  of  her  kinsmen,  was  to  authorise  the 
Imperial  clansmen  and  nobles  to  send  their  sons  to  be 
educated  abroad,  so  that  perchance  the  lump  of  their  ineffi- 
ciency might  yet  be  leavened.  Eligible  youths,  between 
the  ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty-five,  and  of  good  physique, 
were  to  be  selected  and  their  expenses  would  be  defrayed 
by  the  Government. 

This  much  for  the  Manchus ;  but  in  regard  to  the  whole 
question  of  education,  which  she  declared  to  be  the  very 
root  of  all  China's  difficulties,  she  perceived,  after  pro- 
longed consultations  with  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  and  Chang  Chih- 
tung,  that  so  long  as  the  classical  system  continued,  with 
its  strong  hold  of  tradition  upon  the  masses,  it  must  con- 


HER  MAJESTY'S  NEW  POLICY  265 

stitute  the  chief  obstacle  to  any  effective  reform  of  the 
body  politic.  After  much  careful  deliberation  she  decided 
that  unless  the  whole  system  of  classical  examinations  were 
abolished,  root  and  branch,  no  tinkering  with  western 
learning  could  be  of  any  practical  use.  The  ancient  system 
of  arguing  in  a  circle,  which  for  over  two  centuries  had 
characterised  the  ideal  essay  and  hypnotised  the  ideal 
official,  must  undoubtedly  triumph  over  all  other  educa- 
tional methods,  so  long  as  it  remained  part  of  the  official 
curriculum.  Her  Majesty  took  pains  to  point  out  by  Edict 
that  colleges  had  undoubtedly  existed  in  the  days  of  that 
model  ruler,  the  Regent  Duke  Chou,  more  than  three 
thousand  years  ago,  on  lines  not  greatly  different  from 
those  of  the  foreign  Universities  of  the  present  day;  she 
proved  also  that  the  classical  system  was,  so  to  speak, 
quite  a  recent  innovation,  having  been  introduced  for  the 
first  time  under  the  Ming  Dynasty,  about  a.d.  1390. 
Eventually,  in  1904,  upon  the  advice  of  Yiian  Shih-k'ai, 
approved  by  Chang  Chih-tung,  a  Decree  was  issued 
finally  abolishing  the  old  system  of  examinations  and  y^ 
making  graduation  at  one  of  the  modern  colleges  the  only 
recognised  path  to  official  employment.  At  the  same  time, 
realising  that  the  training  of  students  in  Japan,  which  had 
been  proceeding  on  a  very  large  scale,  had  produced  a  body 
of  revolutionary  scholars  most  undesirable  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Government,  she  gave  orders  that  arrangements  should 
be  made  for  sending  more  students  in  future  to  Europe 
and  America. 

This  epoch-making  announcement  was  followed  by 
several  other  important  Decrees,  notably  that  which 
ordered  the  complete  abolition  of  the  opium  traffic  within 
a  period  of  ten  years,  a  Decree,  which,  embodying  a 
sincere  and  powerful  consensus  of  public  opinion,  has  pro- 
duced most  unexpected  results,  marvellously  creditable  to 
the  moral  sense  and  recuperative  energies  of  the  Chinese 
race.  The  contrast  is  most  striking  between  the  widespread 
reform  effected  under  this  Edict,  and  the  almost  complete 
failure  of  those  which  set  forth  to  reform  the  Metropolitan 
administration;  these,  thanks  to  the  steady  passive  resist- 

I 


266    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

ance  of  the  mandarin  in  possession,  resulted  merely  in 
perpetuating  the  old  abuses  under  new  names.  The  one 
new  Ministry  created  at  that  time,  and  saluted  by 
foreigners  as  a  sign  of  genuine  progress,  was  that  of  Posts 
and  Communications  (Yu-Ch'uan  pu),  which  was  a  by- 
word for  corrupt  practices  since  its  establishment,  and  a 
laughing-stock  among  the  Chinese  themselves  for  ineffi- 
ciency and  extravagance. 

After  dealing  with  education,  the  Old  Buddha  turned 
her  attention  to  a  question  which  had  frequently  figured  in 
recent  memorials  of  progressive  officials,  namely,  the 
abolition  of  torture  and  other  abuses  prevalent  in  the  so- 
called  judicial  system  of  the  Empire.  She  realised  that  if 
China  were  ever  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  western 
Powers  to  the  abolition  of  the  foreigner's  rights  of  extra- 
territoriality, she  must  devise  and  enforce  civil  and  criminal 
codes  similar  to  those  of  civilised  countries.  Her  Edict  on 
this  subject,  though  in  form  excellent,  seems  to  lack  some- 
thing of  the  conviction  which  marks  her  other  Decrees  of 
this  period;  it  is  very  different,  for  instance,  from  those 
dealing  with  the  abolition  of  opium  and  the  reform  of 
education.  Its  principles  were  obviously  contrary  to  all 
her  previous  ideas  and  practice,  and  it  is  only  fair  to  say 
that  its  result,  in  spite  of  much  drafting  of  codes,  has  been 
little  or  none,  as  far  as  the  barbarous  practices  of  the 
provincial  Yamens  are  concerned.  She  decreed  that,  pend- 
^ing  the  introduction  of  the  criminal  code,  decapitation 
should  be  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law ;  dismemberment 
and  mutilation  were  to  be  abolished  as  barbarous ;  brand- 
ing, flogging,  and  the  vicarious  punishment  of  relatives 
were  to  cease.  These  savage  penalties,  she  observed,  were 
originally  introduced  into  China  under  the  Ming  Dynasty, 
and  had  only  been  adopted  by  the  Manchus,  with  other 
Chinese  customs,  against  their  own  more  merciful 
instincts. 

Finally,  in  deference  to  the  unmistakable  and  growing 
tendencies  of  public  opinion  in  the  south,  Tzu  Hsi  took  the 
first  steps  towards  the  introduction  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment by  sending  an  Imperial  Commission  (under  Duke 


HER  MAJESTY'S  NEW  POLICY  267 

Tsai  Tse)  to  study  the  various  systems  in  force  in  foreign 
countries,  and  their  results.  The  return  of  this  Mission 
was  followed  in  the  autumn  of  1906  by  the  issue  of  the 
famous  Decree  in  which  she  definitely  announced  her  >^ 
intention  to  grant  a  constitution,  which  should  come  into 
effect  sooner  or  later,  according  to  circumstances  and  the 
amount  of  energy  or  procrastination  displayed  by  the 
officials  and  people  in  preparing  themselves  for  the  change. 
As  an  example  of  subtle  argument  calculated  to  appeal  to 
the  Chinese  mind,  the  document  is  a  masterpiece  in  its 
way.     It  says  :  — 

"  Ever  since  the  foundation  of  the  Dynasty  one  wise  sove- 
reign after  another  has  handed  down  sage  counsels  to  posterity ; 
it  has  always  been  their  guiding  principle  that  methods  of 
Government  should  be  modified  and  adapted  to  meet  the 
exigences  of  the  moment  and  changing  conditions.  China's 
great  and  increasing  danger  to-day  is  largely  due  to  her  unwise 
adherence  to  antiquated  methods;  if  we  do  not  amend  our 
educational  and  political  systems,  we  shall  be  violating  the 
spirit  which  animated  our  Imperial  ancestors,  and  shall  dis- 
appoint the  best  hopes  of  our  people.  Our  Imperial  Commis- 
sioners have  reported  to  us  that  the  prosperity  and  power  of 
foreign  nations  are  largely  due  to  principles  of  constitutional 
government  based  on  the  will  of  the  people,  which  assures 
bonds  of  union  and  sympathy  between  the  Sovereign  and  his 
subjects.  It  is  therefore  our  duty  to  consider  by  what  means 
such  a  Constitution  may  be  granted  as  shall  retain  the  sovereign 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  Throne,  and  at  the  same  time  give 
effect  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  in  matters  of  administration. 
Our  State  being  at  present  unprepared,  and  our  people 
uneducated,  any  undue  haste  is  inadvisable,  and  would  lead  to 
no  practical  results.  We  must  first  reform  the  official  system, 
following  this  by  the  introduction  of  new  laws,  new  methods 
of  education,  finance  and  military  organisations,  together  with 
a  police  system,  so  that  officials  and  people  may  come  to  realise 
what  executive  government  means  as  a  foundation  and  prepar- 
ation for  the  granting  of  a  Constitution." 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  even  Tzii  Hsi  could  frame 
so  radical  and  comprehensive  a  programme  of  change  with- 
out incurring  the  strongest  opposition  and  criticism  of 
those  to  whom  the  established  order  meant  loaves  and 
fishes :  at  Peking,  however,  owing  to  the  absence  of  an 


268    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

outspoken  Press,  the  opposition  ran  beneath  the  surface, 
exercised  in  the  time-honoured  form  of  dogged  adherence 
to  the  ancient  methods  by  the  officials  and  bureaucrats  on 
whose  goodwill  all  reform  ultimately  depends.  Against 
anyone  less  masterful  and  less  popular  than  Tzu  Hsi  the 
Clansmen  would  undoubtedly  have  concerted  other  and 
more  forcible  measures,  but  they  knew  their  Old  Buddha 
and  went  in  wholesome  fear  of  her  wrath.  It  was  only  her 
exceptional  position  and  authority  that  enabled  her  to 
introduce  the  machinery  for  the  establishment  of  constitu- 
tional government,  based  on  the  Japanese  model,  and  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  even  at  the  time  of  her  death  many 
conservative  Manchus  did  not  regard  that  measure  seriously. 

But  despite  the  promise  of  constitutional  government, 
public  opinion  in  the  south,  never  restrained  in  its  utter- 
ances by  the  free-lances  of  the  vernacular  Press  of  Hong- 
kong and  Shanghai,  was  outspoken  in  condemnation  of 
Her  Majesty's  new  policy,  criticising  her  policy  in  general 
on  the  ground  of  her  undignified  truckling  to  Europeans. 
Lacking  alike  her  masculine  intelligence  and  courageous 
recognition  of  hard  facts,  making  no  allowance  for  the 
difficulties  with  which  she  was  encompassed,  and  animated 
in  many  instances  by  a  very  real  hatred  of  the  Manchu 
rule,  they  attacked  her  in  unmeasured  terms  of  abuse; 
while  the  foreign  Press  of  the  Treaty  Ports,  naturally  sus- 
picious of  her  motives  and  mindful  of  her  share  in  the 
anti-foreign  rising,  was  also  generally  unsympathetic,  if 
not  hostile.  In  both  cases  knowledge  of  the  woman's 
virility  and  vitality  was  lacking.  Her  critics  failed  to 
realise  that,  like  most  mortals,  the  Empress  was  a  mixture 
of  good  and  bad,  of  wisdom  and  error,  largely  swayed  by 
circumstances  and  the  human  equations  around  her,  as 
well  as  by  an  essentially  feminine  quality  of  mutability; 
but  withal,  and  above  all,  a  born  leader  of  men  and  a 
politician  of  the  very  first  order. 

The  following  extracts  from  articles  published  in  the 
Shanghai  Press  at  that  time,  throw  an  instructive  light  on 
the  spirit  of  Young  China  (like  that  of  the  Babu  of  India) 
as  displayed  in  its  anti-Manchu  proclivities  and  bigoted 


HER  MAJESTY'S  NEW  POLICY  269 

chauvinism.  One  critic,  taking  for  his  text  the  entertain- 
ments given  by  Her  Majesty  to  the  Foreign  Legations, 
wrote : — 

"There  can  be  no  objection  to  giving  a  banquet  to  anyone 
who  is  likely  to  be  grateful  and  show  some  return  for  hos- 
pitality, but  what  possible  good  purpose  can  be  served  by 
feasting  those  who  treat  you  with  suspicion?  We  Chinese  are 
wont  to  despise  our  ignorant  rustics  when  they  display  servility 
to  foreigners,  but  what  is  to  be  said  when  one  in  the  exalted 
position  of  the  Empress  Dowager  demeans  herself  by  being 
on  terms  of  affectionate  intimacy  with  the  wives  of  Foreign 
Ministers,  and  even  with  women  belonging  to  the  commercial 
and  lower  classes?  Nowadays  foreign  food  is  served  at  the 
palace  in  a  dining-room  decked  out  in  European  style :  the 
guests  at  these  entertainments  thank  their  Imperial  hostess  on 
taking  leave,  and  the  very  next  day  their  Legations  will 
furiously  rage  against  China  at  our  Foreign  Office.  Therefore, 
as  for  moderating  their  barbarous  ways,  her  food  and  her 
wines  are  simply  wasted.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  guests 
of  hers  do  not  scruple  to  compare  her  banquets  of  to-day  with 
the  melons  and  vegetables  which  she  sent  to  the  Legations 
during  the  siege,  a  comparison  by  no  means  flattering  to  Her 
Majesty.  The  thing  is  becoming  a  scandal.  When  Russia 
poured  out  entertainments  in  honour  of  Li  Hung-chang  she  got 
something  for  her  money ;  can  it  be  that  Her  Majesty  Is  looking 
to  similar  results  in  the  present  case  for  herself?  " 

Nevertheless,  unheeding  of  criticism  and  strong  in  the 
wisdom  of  her  own  convictions,  Tzu  Hsi  continued  steadily 
on  the  lines  which  she  had  laid  down  as  necessary  for  the 
future  safety  of  the  Empire.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that 
even  her  strong  personality  could  overcome  in  a  day  the 
entrenched  forces  of  native  prejudice  and  conservatism 
within  and  without  the  palace.  At  the  time  of  her  death 
many  of  the  chief  strongholds  of  the  ancient  system  {e.  g, 
the  power  of  the  eunuchs  and  the  organised  corruption  of 
officials)  remained  practically  uncriticised  and  untouched; 
but  at  her  passing  she  had  marked  out  a  rough  course  by 
which,  if  faithfully  followed,  the  ship  of  State  might  yet 
be  safely  steered  through  the  rocks  and  shallows  of  the 
dangerous  seas  ahead. 


XIX 

HER   majesty's   LAST   DAYS 

The  death  of  Jung  Lu  in  April  1903  was  a  great  grief  to 
the  Empress  Dowager.  In  the  course  of  her  long  life  there 
was  hardly  any  crisis  or  important  event  of  her  reign 
wherein  she  had  not  been  greatly  assisted  by  this  devoted 
follower.  Upon  hearing  of  his  death  she  issued  a  Decree 
from  the  Travelling  Palace  at  Pao-ting  fu,  praising  the 
patriotism  and  clear-sighted  intelligence  of  the  deceased, 
who,  since  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  an  honorary 
licentiate  had  risen  to  be  Controller  of  the  Imperial  House- 
hold, Tartar  General  and  Viceroy,  in  all  of  which  capacities 
he  had  rendered  signal  service.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
he  had  attained  to  the  highest  honours  open  to  a  subject 
in  China,  namely,  the  position  of  Grand  Secretary  and 
Grand  Councillor.  In  this  Decree  Her  Majesty  laid  par- 
ticular stress  on  his  endeavours  to  promote  a  good  under- 
standing with  the  foreign  Powers  in  1900.  Further,  in 
token  of  her  affectionate  regard,  she  bestowed  upon  him 
a  coverlet  with  charms  worked  thereon  from  the  Dharani 
Sutra  in  Sanscrit  and  Thibetan,  to  be  used  as  a  pall  for 
his  burial,  and  she  commanded  Prince  Kung  to  proceed 
to  the  residence  of  the  deceased,  with  ten  officers  of  the 
Imperial  Guard,  to  perform  a  sacrifice  on  her  behalf  to 
the  soul  of  the  departed  statesman.  She  granted  him  the 
posthumous  designation  of  "learned  and  loyal,"  together 
with  the  highest  hereditary  rank  open  to  one  who  had  not 
been  a  victorious  military  commander  or  a  member  of  the 
Imperial  Clan.  His  ancestral  tablet  was  given  a  place  at 
the  Shrine  of  Good  and  Virtuous  Officials,  and  three  thou- 
sand taels  (;£"35o)  were  issued  from  the  privy  purse  towards 
his  funeral  expenses. 

270 


HER  MAJESTY'S  LAST  DAYS  271 

In  the  summer  of  1908  Tzu  Hsi's  generally  robust  health 
showed  signs  of  failing,  a  fact  which  is  recorded  in  her 
valedictory  Decree,  and  one  of  no  small  importance  in 
considering  the  coincident  fact  of  the  illness  of  the  Em- 
peror. Of  the  causes  and  manner  of  the  latter's  death, 
nothing  will  ever  be  definitely  known ;  they  lie  buried  with 
many  another  secret  of  the  Forbidden  City,  in  the  hearts 
of  Li  Lien-ying  and  his  immediate  satellites.  Even  among 
the  higher  officials,  Manchu  and  Chinese,  of  the  capital, 
opinions  differ,  and  many  conflicting  theories  are  current 
to  account  for  the  remarkable  coincidence  of  the  death  of 
Tzu  Hsi  and  her  unhappy  nephew  on  successive  days. 
For  those  who  seek  it  there  is  no  lack  of  circumstantial 
evidence  to  justify  the  conclusion  that  the  long-threatened 
Emperor  was  "  removed  "  by  the  reactionaries,  headed  by 
the  chief  eunuch,  who  had  only  too  good  cause  to  fear  his 
unfettered  authority  on  the  Throne.  At  the  same  time  it 
is  conceivably  possible  that  many  of  the  plots  and  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Summer  Palace  at  that  time  might  have 
been  unknown  to  Tzu  Hsi,  and  that  she  was  purposely  kept 
in  ignorance  by  those  who  foresaw  the  possibility  of  her 
early  death  and  took  their  precautions  accordingly,  after 
the  Oriental  manner.  Indeed,  in  the  light  of  much  trust- 
worthy evidence  of  eye-witnesses,  this  seems  a  rational 
explanation  of  events  to  which  any  solution  by  theories  of 
coincidence  is  evidently  difficult.  Most  of  the  following 
account  of  Her  Majesty's  last  days  is  derived  from  the 
statements  of  two  high  officials,  one  Manchu  and  the  other 
Chinese,  who  were  at  that  time  on  duty  with  the  Court. 
Their  testimony  and  their  conclusions  coincide,  on  the 
whole,  with  those  of  the  best-informed  and  most  reliable 
Chinese  newspapers,  whose  news  from  the  capital  is  also 
generally  from  official  sources.  We  accept  them,  naturally, 
with  all  reserve,  yet  with  an  inclination  to  give  the  Empress 
Dowager,  on  this  occasion,  the  benefit  of  their  good 
opinions  and  our  own  doubts.  The  simultaneous  deaths 
may  possibly  have  been  due  to  natural  causes,  but  it  is  to 
be  observed  by  the  most  sympathetic  critic,  that  the 
account  given  by   Her   Majesty's  loyal   servants   of   her 


272    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

behaviour  immediately  after  the  Emperor's  death,  is  by- 
no  means  suggestive  of  sorrow,  but  rather  of  relief. 

It  was  in  the  previous  autumn  that  the  Emperor  became 
very  ill,  so  much  so  that  he  was  gradually  compelled  during 
the  last  year  of  his  life  to  desist  from  performance  of  the 
usual  sacrifices,  which  entail  no  small  expenditure  of 
physical  energy  through  their  genuflections  and  continual 
prostrations.  The  impression  gradually  gained  ground 
that  His  Majesty  was  not  likely  to  live  much  longer,  and 
it  was  remarked,  and  remembered  as  a  significant  fact,  that 
the  Old  Buddha  had  some  time  before  given  orders  for  the 
engagement  of  special  wet-nurses  for  the  infant  son  of 
Prince  Ch'un,  born  in  February  1906.  It  was  understood 
that  these  orders  implied  the  selection  of  this  infant  Prince 
to  succeed  Kuang-Hsii ;  but  although  many  attempts  were 
made  to  induce  her  to  declare  herself  on  this  subject,  she 
declined  to  do  so  on  the  ground  that  her  previous  experi- 
ence had  been  unlucky,  that  her  selections  had  been  the 
cause  of  much  misunderstanding,  and  that,  moreover,  it 
was  a  house-law  of  the  Dynasty  that  the  heir  to  the  throne 
could  only  be  lawfully  selected  when  the  sovereign  was 
in  extremiSj  a  rule  which  she  had  completely  disregarded 
in  the  nomination  of  Prince  Tuan's  son  in  igoo.^ 

In  this  connection,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
Tzu  Hsi's  superstitious  nature,  and  the  memory  of  the 
prophecies  of  woe  uttered  by  the  Censor  Wu  K'o-tu  at 
the  time  of  his  protesting  suicide,  had  undoubtedly  led 
her  to  regret  the  violation  of  the  sacred  laws  of  succession 
which  she  committed  in  selecting  Kuang-Hsii  for  the 
Throne.  On  more  than  one  occasion  in  recent  years  she 
had  endeavoured  to  propitiate  the  shade  of  the  departed 
Censor,  and  public  opinion,  by  conferring  upon  him  post- 
humous honours.  Towards  the  end  of  her  reign,  after 
the  humiliations  inflicted  on  China  in  successive  wars  by 
France,  Japan  and  the  coalition  of  the  Allies,  she  was 
frequently  heard  to  express  remorse  at  having  been  led 
into  courses  of  error  which  had  brought  down  upon  her 

^  This  house-law  was  made  by  the  Emperor  Ch'ien  Lung  to  prevent  his 
Court  officials  from  intriguing  for  the  favour  of  the  Heir  Apparent. 


HER  MAJESTY'S   LAST  DAYS  273 

the  wrath  of  Heaven.  In  1888,  when  the  Temple  of  Heaven 
was  struck  by  lightning,  and  again,  when  the  chief  gate  of 
the  Forbidden  City  took  fire  and  was  destroyed,  she  inter- 
preted these  events  as  marks  of  the  Supreme  Being's  dis- 
approval of  her  actions.  The  Emperor's  subsequent  con- 
spiracy with  K'ang  Yu-wei  and  his  associates  of  1898, 
became  in  her  eyes  another  judgment  and  visitation  of 
Heaven.  It  may  therefore  reasonably  be  assumed  that 
when  the  Boxer  Princes  persuaded  her  of  the  efficacy  of 
their  magic  arts  and  of  their  ability  to  drive  the  foreigner 
into  the  sea,  she  seized  upon  the  hope  thus  offered  as  a 
means  of  regaining  the  favour  of  the  gods  and  atoning  for 
past  errors.  Although  in  selecting  the  son  of  Prince  Tuan 
to  be  heir  to  her  son,  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih  (thus  pass- 
ing over  Kuang-Hsu),  she  had  once  more  violated  the 
house-laws  of  the  Dynasty,  there  is  no  doubt  that  she  took 
her  risks  in  the  certain  hope  that  further  prestige  must 
accrue  to  her  house  and  to  herself,  by  the  fact  that  the  boy 
Emperor's  father's,  next  to  herself  in  power,  would  be 
hailed  by  the  Chinese  people  as  the  Heaven-sent  deliverer, 
the  conqueror  of  the  hated  barbarian,  and  the  saviour  of 
his  country.  In  other  words,  recognising  that  the  mistakes 
she  had  committed  had  seriously  injured  her  in  the  eyes 
of  the  nation,  she  determined  to  endeavour  to  retrieve 
them  by  one  last  desperate  throw.  Later,  after  the  return 
from  exile,  when  she  realised  that  this  heroic  venture  had 
been  as  misguided  in  its  inception  as  any  of  her  former 
misdeeds,  she  showed  her  splendid  courage  and  resource 
by  a  swift  volte-face  in  the  adoption  of  those  very  reform 
measures  which  she  had  formerly  opposed,  and  by  annul- 
ling the  appointment  of  Prince  Tuan's  son  as  Heir  to  the 
Throne.  She  thus  cut  herself  adrift  from  all  connection 
with  the  Boxer  leaders  as  completely  and  unhesitatingly 
as  she  wiped  out  from  the  annals  of  her  reign  all  reference 
to  the  Edicts  which  she  had  issued  in  their  favour.  The 
result  brought  about  by  this  change  of  policy,  and  of  the 
succession  of  Prince  Ch'un's  infant  son  to  the  Throne, 
was  to  establish  more  firmly  than  ever  that  junior  branch 
of  the  Imperial  family.     It  became  generally  accepted  at 


274    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Court,  that  the  first  Prince  Ch'un,  the  father  of  Kuang- 
Hsii  and  grandfather  of  the  present  sovereign,  would 
eventually  be  canonised  with  the  title  of  "Ti "  or  Emperor, 
which  would  practically  make  him,  by  posthumous  right, 
the  founder  of  a  new  dynastic  branch.  The  problem  of 
the  direct  succession,  even  in  Chinese  eyes,  was  never 
simple,  and  it  was  generally  supposed  {e.  g.  by  The  Times 
correspondent  at  Peking  in  October  1908)  that  the  Empress 
Dowager  would  nominate  Prince  P'u  Lun  to  succeed 
Kuang-Hsii,  thus  restoring  the  succession  to  the  senior 
branch  of  the  family.  This  would  certainly  have  appealed 
to  orthodox  and  literary  officials  throughout  the  Empire, 
and,  as  a  means  of  appeasing  the  distressed  ghost  of  the 
protesting  Censor,  would  have  been  more  effective  than 
the  course  she  actually  adopted.  Doctor  Morrison,  dis- 
cussing this  question  of  the  succession  before  the  event, 
expressed  the  general  opinion  that  the  appointment  of 
another  infant  to  succeed  the  Emperor  Kuang-Hsii  (in- 
volving another  long  Regency)  would  be  fraught  with 
great  danger  to  the  Dynasty.  It  was  evident  to  all  that 
the  situation,  lacking  that  strong  hand  which  for  half  a 
century  had  held  together  the  chaotic  fabric  of  China's 
Government,  suffered  from  the  fact  that  for  many  years 
to  come  the  supreme  authority  seemed  destined  to  remain 
in  the  hands  of  a  Regent,  and  a  Regent  whose  position 
was  ab  initio  undermined  by  the  powerful  influences 
brought  to  bear  by  the  senior  branch  of  the  Imperial  Clan. 
Tzu  Hsi  was  fully  aware  of  the  position  which  would  be 
created,  or  rather  prolonged,  by  the  selection  of  Prince 
Ch'un's  son,  and  for  this  reason,  no  doubt,  the  selection  of 
Kuang-Hsii  *s  successor  was  postponed  until  the  very  day 
of  her  death.  When,  at  last,  confronted  by  the  imperative 
necessity  for  action,  she  had  to  make  up  her  mind,  there 
were  two  things  that  chiefly  weighed  with  her.  These 
were,  firstly,  the  promise  that  she  had  made  to  Jung  Lu, 
and,  secondly,  her  unconcealed  dislike  for  Prince  Ch'ing, 
who  had  made  himself  the  chief  spokesman  for  the  claims 
of  Prince  P'u  Lun.  It  was  also  only  natural  that  she 
should  wish  to  leave  to  her  favourite  niece  (the  consort  of 


HER  MAJESTY'S  LAST  DAYS  275 

Kuang-Hsu)  the  title  and  power  of  Empress  Dowager,  if 
only  in  reward  for  years  of  faithful  and  loyal  service  to 
herself.  In  other  words,  the  claims  of  the  human  equation 
and  her  own  inclinations  outweighed,  unto  the  end,  the 
claims  of  orthodox  tradition  and  the  qualms  of  her 
conscience. 

Throughout  the  winter  of  1907  and  the  following  spring, 
the  Empress  enjoyed  her  usual  vigorous  health.  In  April 
she  went,  as  usual,  to  the  Summer  Palace,  where  she 
remained  all  through  the  hot  season.  With  the  heat, 
however,  came  a  recurrence  of  her  dysenteric  trouble  and 
in  August  she  had  a  slight  stroke  of  paralysis,  as  the  result 
of  which  her  face,  hitherto  remarkably  youthful  for  a 
woman  of  seventy,  took  on  a  drawn  and  tired  appearance. 
In  other  respects  her  health  seemed  fairly  good;  certainly 
her  vigour  of  speech  remained  unimpaired,  and  she  con- 
tinued to  devote  unremitting  attention  to  affairs  of  State. 
She  was  wont  frequently  to  declare  her  ambition  of  attain- 
ing to  the  same  age  as  Queen  Victoria,  a  ruler  for  whom 
she  professed  the  greatest  admiration ;  she  would  say  that 
she  could  trace,  in  the  features  of  the  English  Queen,  lines 
of  longevity  similar  to  those  in  her  own.  The  Taoist 
Abbot,  Kao,  whom  she  used  to  receive  in  frequent 
audiences,  and  who  possessed  considerable  influence  over 
her,  had  prophesied  that  she  would  live  longer  than  any 
former  Empress  of  the  Dynasty;  but  his  prophecy  was 
not  fulfilled,  for  she  died  younger  than  three  of  her 
predecessors. 

In  the  summer  of  1908  the  Old  Buddha  took  a  keen 
interest  in  the  impending  visit  of  the  Dalai  Lama,  which 
had  been  arranged  for  the  autumn.  The  chief  eunuch,  Li, 
begged  her  to  cancel  this  visitation  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  notoriously  unlucky  for  the  "Living  Buddha"  and 
the  Son  of  Heaven  to  be  resident  in  one  city  at  the  same 
time.  Either  the  priest  or  the  sovereign  would  surely  die, 
he  said.^    To  this  Tzii  Hsi  replied  that  she  had  long  since 

^  The  chief  eunuch  in  reality  objected  to  the  Buddhist  pontiff  on  his 
own  account,  for  the  Lama's  exactions  from  the  superstitious  would 
naturally  diminish  his  own  opportunities. 


276    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

decided  in  her  mind  that  the  Emperor's  illness  was  incur- 
able, and  she  saw  no  reason,  therefore,  to  stop  the  coming 
of  the  Dalai  Lama.  Nevertheless,  in  July,  she  summoned 
certain  Chinese  physicians,  educated  abroad,  to  attend  His 
Majesty,  who  had  become  greatly  emaciated  and  very 
weak.  They  reported  that  he  was  suffering  from  B right's 
disease.  Their  examination  of  the  august  patient  and  their 
diagnosis  of  his  symptoms  were  necessarily  perfunctory, 
inasmuch  as  etiquette  prevented  the  application  of  the 
proper  tests,  but  they  professed  to  have  verified  the  fact 
that  the  action  of  the  heart  was  very  weak.  On  the  other 
hand,  writers  in  the  newspapers  of  the  south  did  not 
hesitate  to  assert  that  the  whole  medical  performance  was 
a  farce  and  that  the  death  of  the  Emperor  would  un- 
doubtedly take  place  so  soon  as  the  powers  about  the 
ThjTone  had  made  up  their  minds  that  the  Empress 
Dowager  was  not  likely  to  live  much  longer. 

According  to  the  general  consensus  of  opinion  in  the 
capital,  the  relations  between  the  Old  Buddha  and  His 
Majesty  were  not  unfriendly  at  this  period.  It  was  said 
that  shortly  before  his  illness  became  acute  the  Empress 
Dowager  had  encouraged  him  to  take  a  more  active  part 
in  affairs  of  State,  and  to  select  candidates  for  certain  high 
offices :  she  certainly  renewed  the  practice  of  showing  him 
Decrees  for  the  formality  of  his  concurrence.  When  the 
reformer  Wang  Chao  returned  from  flight,  and  gave  him- 
self up  to  the  police,  she,  who  had  vowed  the  death  of  this 
man  in  1898,  invited  His  Majesty  to  decide  what  punish- 
ment should  now  be  inflicted  upon  him.  The  Emperor, 
after  long  reflection,  suggested  that  his  life  be  spared. 
"By  all  means,"  replied  the  Old  Buddha,  "I  had  fully 
intended  to  forgive  him,  but  desired  to  hear  your  opinion. 
Full  well  I  know  your  sincere  hatred  of  fellows  like  K'ang 
Yu-wei  and  his  asociates,  and  I  was  afraid,  therefore,  that 
you  might  insist  on  the  immediate  decapitation  of  Wang 
Chao."  She  evidently  believed  that  she  had  completely 
eradicated  from  His  Majesty's  mind  all  opposition  to  her 
wishes. 

As  the  Emperor's  health  grew  worse,  the  eunuchs  were 


I 


HER  MAJESTY'S   LAST  DAYS  277 

instructed  not  to  keep  him  waiting  when  calling  upon  the 
Empress  Dowager  and  he  was  also  excused  at  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Grand  Council  from  awaiting  her  arrival  and 
departure  on  his  knees.  A  Manchu  holding  a  high  position 
at  Court  testifies  to  the  truth  of  the  following  incident. 
One  morning,  after  perusal  of  a  Censor's  Memorial,  which 
contained  several  inaccurate  statements,  His  Majesty 
observed  to  the  Grand  Council :  **  How  little  of  truth  there 
is  in  common  rumour.  For  instance,  I  know  myself  to  be 
really  ill,  yet  here  it  is  denied  that  there  is  anything  the 
matter  with  me."  The  Empress  Dowager  here  broke  in  : 
"Who  has  dared  to  utter  such  falsehoods?  If  caught,  he 
will  certainly  be  beheaded."  Kuang-HsU  then  proceeded 
to  say  :  **  I  am  really  getting  weaker  every  day,  and  do  not 
see  my  way  to  performing  the  necessary  ceremonies  on  the 
occasion  of  Your  Majesty's  approaching  birthday."  Com- 
passionately the  Old  Buddha  replied:  "It  is  more  import- 
ant to  me  that  you  should  recover  your  health  than  that 
you  should  knock  your  head  on  the  ground  in  my  honour." 
The  Emperor  fell  on  his  knees  to  thank  her  for  these 
gracious  words,  but  collapsed  in  a  fainting  fit.  Prince 
Ch'ing  thereupon  advised  that  a  certain  doctor,  Ch'ii 
Yung-chiu,  trained  in  Europe,  should  be  called  in,  but  his 
advice  was  not  followed  till  later.  On  the  following  day 
His  Majesty  enquired  of  the  Court  physicians  in  attend- 
ance, whose  medical  training  is  the  same  as  that  which 
has  been  handed  down  since  the  days  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty, 
whether  his  disease  was  likely  to  be  fatal.  "The  heart  of 
Your  Emperor  is  greatly  disturbed,"  said  he.  Dr.  Lu 
Yung-ping  replied:  "There  is  nothing  in  Your  Majesty's 
present  condition  to  indicate  any  mortal  disease.  We 
beseech  Your  Majesty  to  be  calm :  it  is  for  us,  your 
servants,  to  be  perturbed  in  spirit." 

After  Tzu  Hsi's  stroke  of  paralysis,  the  wildest  rumours 
were  circulated  as  to  her  condition,  so  much  so  that,  realis- 
ing the  excited  state  of  provincial  opinion,  and  its  relation 
to  the  question  of  the  Constitution  which  was  to  have  been 
granted,  Her  Majesty  decided  to  carry  out  without  further 
delay  the  promise  she  made  in  1906.    On  the  ist  of  the  8th 


278    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Moon,  she  therefore  promulgated  a  Decree,  showing  signs 
of  the  same  spirit  of  lofty  statesmanship  as  was  displayed 
by  the  rulers  of  Japan,  and  evidently  based  on  their 
example,  whereby  it  was  promised  that  a  constitutional 
form  of  government  would  be  completely  established  within 
a  period  of  nine  years.  At  the  same  time  it  was  decreed 
that  every  branch  of  the  government  should  institute  the 
changes  necessary  to  facilitate  the  introduction  of  the  new 
dispensation.  On  issuing  this  Decree  she  expressed  her 
hope  of  living  to  witness  the  convening  of  the  first  Chinese 
Parliament,  and  added  that  if  Prince  Tuan's  son  had 
proved  himself  worthy,  and  had  remained  Heir  Apparent, 
he  would  by  now  have  been  of  age  to  carry  on  the  govern- 
ment after  the  Emperor's  death.  Age  was  creeping  upon 
her,  and  she  would  be  glad  to  retire  to  the  Summer  Palace 
for  her  declining  years.  As  long  as  matters  remained  in 
their  present  state,  it  would  be  necessary  to  refer  important 
questions  for  her  decision,  but  she  greatly  wished  that  the 
period  of  her  Regency  should  not  be  indefinitely  prolonged. 

In  September  occurred  the  fiftieth  birthday  of  the  ex- 
Viceroy  of  Chihli  Yiian  Shih-k'ai,  while  the  Court  was 
still  in  residence  at  the  Summer  Palace.  The  Old  Buddha 
showered  costly  gifts  upon  her  trusted  Minister,  and  almost 
every  high  official  in  Peking  attended  the  birthday  cere- 
monies to  present  congratulations  and  gifts.  Conspicuous 
by  his  absence,  however,  was  the  Emperor's  brother.  Prince 
Ch'un  (subsequently  Regent),  who  had  applied  for  short 
leave  in  order  to  avoid  being  present,  and  who  offered  no 
presents. 

A  significant  incident  occurred  in  connection  with  the 
birthday  ceremonies.  Among  the  many  complimentary 
scrolls,  presented  by  friends  and  hanging  on  the  walls, 
were  a  pair  which  attracted  much  attention,  until  they  were 
hurriedly  removed.  One  contained  the  following  inscrip- 
tion :  "5th  day  of  the  8th  Moon  of  the  Wu  Shen  year" 
(this  was  the  date  of  the  crisis  of  the  coup  d'etat  when  Yiian 
Shih-k'ai  warned  Jung  Lu  of  the  plot,  and  thus  brought 
about  the  practical  dethronement  of  the  Emperor),  and  on 
the  other  were  the  words:    "May  the  Emperor  live  ten 


I 


r 


i 


•  •cat 

c  c  c  c  c 


HER   MAJESTY'S    LAST   DAYS  279 

thousand  years  I  May  Your  Excellency  live  ten  thousand 
years."  f. 

The  words  iuan  sui,  meaning  "ten  thousand  years,'* 
are  not  applicable  to  any  subject  of  the  Throne,  and  the 
inner  meaning  of  these  words  was,  therefore,  interpreted 
to  be  a  charge  against  Yiian  of  conspiring  for  the  Throne. 
It  was  clear  that  some  enemy  had  sent  the  scrolls  as  a 
reminder  of  Y~Uan's  betrayal  of  his  Sovereign  ten  years 
before,  and  that  they  had  been  hung  up  either  as  the 
result  of  connivance  or  carelessness  on  the  part  of  YUan's 
people.  Four  months  later,  when  the  great  ex- Viceroy 
fell,  this  incident  was  remembered  and  inevitably  con- 
nected with  Prince  Ch'un's  non-appearance  at  the  birthday 
ceremonies. 

In  September,  the  Dalai  Lama  reached  Peking,  but  owing 
to  a  dispute  on  certain  details  of  ceremonial,  his  audience 
was  postponed.  It  was  finally  arranged  that  the  Pontiff 
should  "ko-tow"  to  the  Throne,  and  that  the  Emperor 
should  then  rise  from  his  seat  and  invite  the  Lama  to  sit 
beside  him  on  a  cane  couch.  This  ceremonial  was  most 
reluctantly  accepted,  and  only  after  much  discussion,  by 
the  Dalai  Lama,  who  considered  his  dignity  seriously 
injured  by  having  to  "ko-tow."  He  had  brought  with  him 
much  tribute,  and  was  therefore  the  more  disappointed  at 
the  Old  Buddha's  failure  to  show  him  the  marks  of  respect 
which  he  had  expected.  His  audience  was  held  early  in 
October,  when  Her  Majesty  requested  him  to  offer  up 
prayers  regularly  for  her  long  life  and  prosperity. 

In  October,  the  foreign  Ministers  were  also  received  at 
the  Summer  Palace,  and  on  the  20th  of  that  month  the 
Court  returned  to  the  Lake  Palace  for  the  winter.  On  this, 
her  last  State  progress,  the  Empress  Dowager  approached 
the  city  as  usual  in  her  State  barge,  by  the  canal  which 
joins  the  Summer  Palace  Lake  with  the  waters  of  the 
Winter  Palace,  proceeding  in  it  as  far  as  the  Temple  of 
Imperial  Longevity,  which  is  situated  on  the  banks  of  this 
canal.  It  was  observed  that  as  she  left  the  precincts  of  the 
Summer  Palace  she  gazed  longingly  towards  the  lofty  walls 
that  rise  from  the  banks  of  the  lake,  and  from  thence  to  the 


28o    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

hills  receding  into  the  far  distance.  Turning  to  the 
"  Lustrous  "  concubine  who  sat  at  her  feet,  she  expressed 
her  fears  that  the  critical  condition  of  the  Emperor  would 
prevent  her  from  visiting  her  favourite  residence  for  a  long 
time  to  come. 

The  Old  Buddha  sat  in  a  cane  chair  on  the  raised  deck 
of  her  magnificent  barge  adorned  with  carved  dragons  and 
phoenixes;  she  was  surrounded  by  her  favourite  eunuchs, 
and  half  a  dozen  of  the  chief  ladies  of  the  Court.  As  she 
descended  from  the  barge,  supported  by  two  eunuchs,  and 
entered  the  sedan-chair  which  bore  her  to  within  the  temple 
precincts,  her  vivacity  and  good  spirits  formed  a  subject 
of  general  comment.  She  performed  the  usual  sacrifices  at 
the  Temple  of  Imperial  Longevity,  a  shrine  which  she  had 
liberally  endowed;  but  it  was  remembered  after  her  death, 
as  an  unfortunate  omen,  that  the  last  stick  of  incense  failed 
to  ignite.  Upon  leaving  the  temple  she  begged  the  priests 
to  chant  daily  liturgies  and  to  pray  for  her  longevity,  in 
view  of  her  approaching  birthday. 

After  leaving  the  temple  precincts  she  proceeded  with 
her  ladies-in-waiting  to  the  Botanical  and  Zoological 
Garden,  which  lie  just  outside  the  "  West-Straight "  gate 
of  the  city.  On  arrival  at  the  gates,  she  insisted  upon 
descending  from  her  sedan-chair,  and  made  the  entire 
round  of  the  gardens  on  foot.  She  expressed  interest  and 
much  pleasure  at  the  sight  of  animals  which  she  had  never 
seen  before,  and  announced  her  intention  of  frequently 
visiting  the  place.  She  asked  numerous  questions  of  the 
keepers,  being  especially  interested  in  the  lions,  and 
created  much  amusement  amongst  her  immediate  entourage 
by  asking  the  director  of  the  gardens  (a  Manchu  official  of 
the  Household)  for  information  as  to  where  the  animals 
came  from,  a  subject  on  which  he  was  naturally  quite 
uninformed.  "You  don't  seem  to  know  much  about 
zoology,"  she  observed,  and  turned  from  the  crestfallen 
official  to  address  one  of  the  keepers  in  a  most  informal 
manner.  The  chief  eunuch,  Li  Lien-ying,  wearied  by  such 
unwonted  exercise,  implored  Her  Majesty  not  to  tire  her- 
self, but  the  Old  Buddha  took  pleasure,  clearly  malicious. 


HER  MAJESTY'S    LAST   DAYS  281 

in  hurrying  him  round  the  grounds.  The  occasion  was 
unusual  and  remarkably  informal,  and  the  picture  brings 
irresistibly  to  the  English  mind  memories  of  another 
strong-minded  Queen  and  her  inspection  of  another  garden, 
where  heads  were  insecure  for  gardeners  and  Cheshire 
cats.  Eye-witnesses  of  that  day's  outing  commented  freely 
on  their  Imperial  Mistress's  extraordinary  spirits  and 
vitality,  predicting  for  her  many  years  of  life. 

Her  Majesty,  whose  memory  on  unexpected  subjects 
was  always  remarkable,  referred  on  this  occasion  to  the 
elephant  which  had  been  presented  to  her  by  Tuan  Fang 
upon  his  return  from  Europe,  and  which,  together  with 
several  other  animals  for  which  she  had  no  fitting  accom- 
modation in  the  palace  grounds,  was  the  first  cause  and 
first  inmate  of  the  Zoological  Gardens.  The  elephant  in 
question  had  originally  been  in  charge  of  the  two  German 
keepers  who  had  accompanied  it  from  Hagenbeck's  estab- 
lishment ;  these  men  had  frequently  but  unsuccessfully  pro- 
tested at  the  insufficient  rations  provided  for  the  beast  by 
the  Mandarin  in  charge.  Eventually  the  elephant  had  died 
of  slow  starvation,  and  the  keepers  had  returned  to  Europe, 
after  obtaining  payment  of  their  unexpired  contracts,  a 
result  which  brought  down  upon  the  offending  official  Her 
Majesty's  severe  displeasure.  She  referred  now  to  this 
incident,  and  expressed  satisfaction  that  most  of  the  animals 
appeared  to  be  well  cared  for,  though  the  tigers'  attendant 
received  a  sharp  rebuke. 

After  Her  Majesty's  return  to  the  Winter  Palace  every 
thing  was  given  over  to  preparations  for  the  celebration  of 
her  seventy-third  birthday  on  the  3rd  of  November.  The 
main  streets  of  the  city  were  decorated,  and  in  the  palace 
itself  arrangements  were  made  for  a  special  theatrical  per- 
formance to  last  for  five  days.  A  special  ceremony,  quite 
distinct  from  the  ordinary  birthday  congratulations  of  the 
Court,  was  arranged  for  the  Dalai  Lama,  who  was  to  make 
obeisance  before  Her  Majesty  at  the  head  of  his  following 
of  priests.  The  health  of  His  Majesty  did  not  permit  of 
his  carrying  out  the  prescribed  ceremony  of  prostration 
before    Her    Majesty's    Throne    in    the    main    Palace    of 


282    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Ceremonial  Phoenixes;  he  therefore  deputed  a  Prince  of 
the  Blood  to  represent  him  in  the  performance  of  this 
duty,  and  those  who  knew  its  deep  significance  on  such  an 
occasion  realised  that  the  condition  of  his  health  must 
indeed  be  desperate.  This  impression  was  confirmed  by 
the  fact  that  he  was  similarly  compelled  to  abandon  his 
intention  of  being  present  at  a  special  banquet  to  be  given 
to  the  Dalai  Lama  in  the  Palace  of  Tributary  Envoys.  The 
high  priest,  who  had  been  compelled  to  kneel  outside  the 
banquet  hall  to  await  the  arrival  of  His  Majesty,  was 
greatly  incensed  at  this  occurrence. 

At  eight  in  the  morning  of  the  birthday  His  Majesty  left 

his  palace  in  the  "Ocean  Terrace"  and  proceeded  to  the 

Throne  Hall.     His  emaciated  and  wobegone  appearance 

was  such,  however,  that  the  Old  Buddha  took  compassion 

upon  him,  and  bade  his  attendant  eunuchs  support  him  to 

his    palanquin,    excusing    him    from    further   attendance. 

Later  in  the  day  she  issued  a  special  Decree  praising  the 

loyalty  of  the  Dalai  Lama,  and  ordering  him  to  return 

promptly  to  Thibet,  "there  to  extol  the  generosity  of  the 

Throne  of  China,  and  faithfully  to  obey  the  commands  of 

the  Sovereign  Power."    The  Empress  Dowager  spent  the 

afternoon  of  her  birthday  in  the  congenial  amusement  of 

a  masquerade,  appearing  in  the  costume  of  the  Goddess 

of  Mercy,  attended  by  a  numerous  suite  of  concubines, 

Imperial  Princesses,  and  eunuchs,  all  in  fancy  dress.    They 

picnicked  on  the  lake,  and  Her  Majesty  appeared  to  be  in 

the  very  highest  spirits.    Unfortunately,  towards  evening, 

she  caught  a  chill,  and  thereafter,  partaking  too  freely  of  si 

mixture  of  clotted  cream  and  crab  apples,  she  had  a  return 

of  the  dysenteric  complaint  from  which  she  had  suffered 

all    through   the    summer.      On    the    following    day   she 

attended  to  affairs  of  State  as  usual,  reading  a  vast  number 

of  memorials  and  recording  her  decision  thereon,  but  on 

the  5th  of  November  neither  she  nor  the  Emperor  were 

sufficiently  well  to  receive  the  Grand  Council,  so  that  all 

business  of   government   was    suspended   for    two    days. 

Upon  hearing  of  Her  Majesty's  illness,  the  Dalai  Lama 

hastened  to  present  her  with  an  image  of  Buddha,  which, 


The  Empress  Dowager,  with  the  Chief  Eunuch,  Li  Lien-Ying 


« 


•     •      t     ^  a'c 

»      C    C  »,      '   €  • 

(.       SCO        (<    » 


c  •  o     •  •  • 

t  C      (.  c       •     c 


HER   MAJESTY'S   LAST   DAYS  283 

he  said,  should  be  despatched  forthwith  to  her  mausoleum 
at  the  hills,  the  building  of  which  had  just  been  completed 
under  the  supervision  of  Prince  Ch'ing.^  The  high  priest 
urged  all  haste  in  transmitting  this  miracle-working  image 
to  her  future  burial-place ;  if  it  were  done  quickly,  he  said, 
her  life  would  be  prolonged  by  many  years,  because  the 
unlucky  conjunction  of  the  stars  now  affecting  her  adversely 
would  avail  nothing  against  the  magic  power  of  this 
image.  The  Old  Buddha  was  greatly  reassured  by  the 
Dalai  Lama's  cheerful  prognostications,  and  next  morning 
held  audience  as  usual.  She  commanded  Prince  Ch'ing 
to  proceed  without  delay  to  the  tombs,  and  there  to  deposit 
the  miraculous  image  on  the  altar. ^  She  ordered  him  to 
pay  particular  attention  to  the  work  done  at  the  mausoleum, 
and  to  make  certain  that  her  detailed  instructions  had  been 
faithfully  carried  out.  Prince  Ch'ing  demurred  somewhat 
at  these  instructions,  inquiring  whether  she  really  wished 
him  to  leave  Peking  at  a  time  when  she  herself  and  the 
Emperor  were  both  ill.  But  the  Old  Buddha  would  brook 
no  argument,  and  peremptorily  ordered  him  to  proceed  as 
instructed.  "I  am  not  likely  to  die,"  she  said,  "during 
the  next  few  days;  already  I  am  feeling  much  better.  In 
any  case  you  will  do  as  you  are  told."  On  Monday, 
November  9th,  both  the  Empress  Dowager  and  the  Em- 
peror were  present  at  a  meeting  of  the  Grand  Council,  and 
a  special  audience  was  given  to  the  Educational  Com- 
missioner of  Chihli  province,  about  to  leave  for  his  post. 
At  this  audience  the  Old  Buddha  spoke  with  some  bitter- 
ness of  the  increasing  tendency  of  the  student  class  to  give 
vent  to  revolutionary  ideas,  and  she  commanded  the  Com- 
missioner of  Education  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  check  their 
political  activities. 

Shortly  afterwards  four  more  physicians,  who  had  come 

^  He  had  succeeded  Jung  Lu  as  custodian  of  the  mausolea. 

*  The  Imperial  Mausoleum  lies  about  ninety  miles  to  the  east  of 
Peking,  covering  a  vast  enclosure  of  magnificent  approach  and  decorated 
with  splendid  specimens  of  the  best  style  of  Chinese  architecture.  It 
consists  of  four  palaces,  rising  one  behind  the  other,  and  at  the  back  of 
the  fourth  and  highest  stands  the  huge  mound  classically  termed  the 
"  Jewelled  Citadel,"  under  which  lies  the  spacious  grave  chamber. 


284    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

up  from  the  provinces,  were  admitted  to  see  His  Majesty. 
That  same  afternoon  he  had  a  serious  relapse,  and  from 
that  day  forward  never  left  his  palace.  On  the  following 
morning  he  sent  a  dutiful  message  (or  it  was  sent  for  him) 
enquiring  after  the  Empress  Dowager*s  health,  she  being 
also  confined  to  her  room  and  holding  no  audiences.  The 
Court  physicians  reported  badly  of  both  their  Imperial 
patients  :  being  fearful  as  to  the  outcome,  they  begged 
the  Comptroller-General  of  the  Household  to  engage  other 
physicians  in  their  place.  The  Grand  Council  sent  a 
message  to  Prince  Ch'ing,  directing  him  to  return  to 
Peking  with  all  haste,  his  presence  being  required  forth- 
with on  matters  of  the  highest  importance.  Travelling 
night  and  day,  he  reached  the  capital  at  about  eight  o'clock 
in  the  morning  of  the  13th,  and  hastened  to  the  palace.  He 
found  the  Old  Buddha  cheerful  and  confident  of  ultimate 
recovery,  but  the  Emperor  was  visibly  sinking,  his  con- 
dition being  comatose,  with  short  lucid  intervals.  His  last 
conscious  act  had  been  to  direct  his  Consort  to  inform 
the  Empress  Dowager  that  he  regretted  being  unable  to 
attend  her,  and  that  he  hoped  that  she  would  appoint  an 
Heir  Apparent  without  further  delay.  Whether  these 
dutiful  messages  were  spontaneous  or  inspired,  and  indeed, 
whether  they  were  ever  sent  by  the  Emperor,  is  a  matter 
upon  which  doubt  has  been  freely  expressed. 

Immediately  after  the  arrival  of  Prince  Ch'ing,  an  im- 
portant audience  was  held  in  the  Hall  of  Ceremonial 
Phoenixes.  Her  Majesty  was  able  to  mount  the  Throne, 
and,  though  obviously  weak,  her  unconquerable  courage 
enabled  her  to  master  her  physical  ailments,  and  she  spoke 
with  all  her  wonted  vehemence  and  lucidity.  A  well- 
informed  member  of  the  Grand  Council,  full  of  wonder  at 
such  an  exhibition  of  strength  of  will,  has  recorded  the 
fact  that  she  completely  led  and  dominated  the  Council. 
There  were  present  Prince  Ch'ing,  Prince  Ch'un,  the 
Grand  Councillor  Yiian  Shih-k'ai,  and  the  Grand  Secre- 
taries Chang  Chih-tung,  Lu  Ch'uan-lin  and  Shih  Hsii. 

Her  Majesty  announced  that  the  time  had  come  to 
nominate  an  Heir  to  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih,  in  accord- 
ance with  that  Decree  of  the  first  day  of  the  reign  of  Kuang- 


HER   MAJESTY'S    LAST  DAYS  285 

Hsii,  wherein  it  was  provided  that  the  deceased  Sovereign's 
ancestral  rites  should  be  safeguarded  by  allowing  him  pre- 
cedence over  his  successor  of  the  same  generation.  Her 
choice,  she  said,  was  already  made,  but  she  desired  to  take 
the  opinion  of  the  Grand  Councillors  in  the  first  instance. 
Prince  Ch'ing  and  Yiian  Shih-k*ai  then  recommended  the 
appointment  of  Prince  P'u  Lun,  or,  failing  him.  Prince 
Kung.  They  thought  the  former,  as  senior  great-grandson 
of  Tao-Kuang,  was  the  more  eligible  candidate,  and  with 
this  view  Prince  Ch'ing  seemed  disposed  to  agree.  The 
remaining  Grand  Councillors,  however,  advised  the  selec- 
tion of  Prince  Ch'un's  infant  son. 

After  hearing  the  views  of  her  Councillors,  the  Old 
Buddha  announced  that  long  ago,  at  the  time  when  she 
had  betrothed  the  daughter  of  Jung  Lu  to  Prince  Ch'un, 
she  had  decided  that  the  eldest  son  of  this  marriage  should 
become  Heir  to  the  Throne,  in  recognition  and  reward  of 
Jung  Lu's  lifelong  devotion  to  her  person,  and  his  para- 
mount services  to  the  Dynasty  at  the  time  of  the  Boxer 
rising.  She  placed  on  record  her  opinion  that  he  had 
saved  the  Manchus  by  refusing  to  assist  in  the  attack  upon 
the  Legations.  In  the  3rd  Moon  of  this  year  she  had 
renewed  her  pledge  to  Jung  Lu's  widow,  her  oldest  friend, 
just  before  she  died.  She  would,  therefore,  now  bestow 
upon  Prince  Ch'un  as  Regent,  the  title  of  "Prince  co- 
operating in  the  Government,"  a  title  one  degree  higher 
than  that  which  had  been  given  to  Prince  Kung  in  1861, 
who  was  made  "Adviser  to  the  Government"  by  herself 
and  her  Co-Regent. 

Upon  hearing  this  decision.  Prince  Ch'un  arose  from 
his  seat  and  repeatedly  "ko-towed"  before  Her  Majesty, 
expressing  a  deep  sense  of  his  own  unworthiness.  Once 
more  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  courageously  advanced  the  superior 
claims  of  Prince  P'u  Lun  :  he  was  sincerely  of  opinion 
that  the  time  had  come  for  the  succession  to  be  continued 
along  the  original  lines  of  primogeniture ;  it  was  clear  also 
that  he  fully  realised  that  Prince  Ch'un  was  his  bitter 
enemy.  The  Old  Buddha  turned  upon  him  with  an  angry 
reprimand.  "You  think,"  she  said,  "that  I  am  old,  and 
in  my  dotage,  but  you  should  have  learned  by  now  that 


286    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

when  I  make  up  my  mind  nothing  stops  me  from  acting 
upon  it.  At  a  critical  time  in  a  nation's  affairs  a  youthful 
Sovereign  is  no  doubt  a  source  of  danger  to  the  State, 
but  do  not  forget  that  I  shall  be  here  to  direct  and  assist 
Prince  Ch'un."  Then,  turning  to  the  other  Councillors, 
she  continued :  "  Draft  two  Decrees  at  once,  in  my  name, 
the  first,  appointing  Tsai-feng,  Prince  Ch'un,  to  be  '  Prince 
co-operating  in  the  Government '  and  the  second  command- 
ing that  P'u  Yi,  son  of  Prince  Ch'un,  should  enter  the 
palace  forthwith,  to  be  brought  up  within  the  precincts." 
She  ordered  Prince  Ch'ing  to  inform  the  Emperor  of  these 
Decrees. 

Kuang-Hsu  was  still  conscious,  and  understood  what 
Prince  Ch'ing  said  to  him.  "Would  it  not  have  been 
better,"  he  said,  "to  nominate  an  adult?  No  doubt,  how- 
ever, the  Empress  Dowager  knows  best."  Upon  hearing 
of  the  appointment  of  Prince  Ch'un  to  the  Regency,  he 
expressed  his  gratification.  This  was  at  3  p.m.  ;  two  hours 
later  the  infant  Prince  had  been  brought  into  the  palace, 
and  was  taken  by  his  father  to  be  shown  both  to  the 
Empress  Dowager  and  the  Emperor.  At  seven  o'clock  on 
the  following  morning  the  physicians  in  attendance 
reported  that  His  Majesty's  "nose  was  twitching  and  his 
stomach  rising,"  from  which  signs  they  knew  that  his  end 
was  at  hand.  During  the  night,  feeling  that  death  was 
near,  he  had  written  out  his  last  testament,  in  a  hand  almost 
illegible,  prefacing  the  same  with  these  significant  words  :  — 

"We  were  the  second  son  of  Prince  Ch'un  when  the  Empress 
Dowager  selected  Us  for  the  Throne.  She  has  always  hated 
Us,  but  for  Our  misery  of  the  past  ten  years  Yiian  Shih-k'ai  is 
responsible,  and  one  other  "  (the  second  name  is  said  to  have 
been  illegible).  "When  the  time  comes  I  desire  that  Yiian  be 
summarily  beheaded." 

The  Emperor's  consort  took  possession  of  this  docu- 
ment, which,  however,  was  seen  by  independent  witnesses. 
Its  wording  goes  to  show  that  any  conciliatory  atitude  on 
the  part  of  the  Emperor  during  the  last  year  must  have 
been  inspired  by  fear  and  not  by  any  revival  of  affection. 

Later  in  the  day  a  Decree  was  promulgated,  announcing 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Peking  and  the  Empire  that  their 


The  Son  of  Heaven. 
H.M.  IIsiJAN-T'uNG,  Emperor  of  China. 


HER   MAJESTY'S   LAST   DAYS  2B7 

Sovereign's  condition  was  desperate,  and  calling  on  the 
provinces  to  send  their  most  skilful  physicians  post-haste 
to  the  capital  so  that,  perchance.  His  Majesty's  life  might 
yet  be  saved.  The  Decree  described  in  detail  the  symp- 
toms, real  or  alleged,  of  Kuang-Hsu's  malady.  It  was 
generally  regarded  as  a  perfunctory  announcement  of  an 
unimportant  event,  long  expected. 

At  3  P.M.  the  Empress  Dowager  came  to  the  Ocean 
Terrace  to  visit  the  Emperor,  but  he  was  unconscious, 
and  did  not  know  her.  Later,  when  a  short  return  of  con- 
sciousness occurred,  his  attendants  endeavoured  to  per- 
suade him  to  put  on  the  Ceremonial  Robes  of  Longevity, 
in  which  etiquette  prescribes  that  sovereigns  should  die. 
It  is  the  universal  custom  that,  if  possible,  the  patient 
should  don  these  robes  in  his  last  moments,  for  it  is  con- 
sidered unlucky  if  they  are  put  on  after  death.  His 
Majesty,  however,  obstinately  declined,  and  at  five  o'clock 
he  died,  in  the  presence  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  his  con- 
sort, the  two  secondary  consorts,  and  a  few  eunuchs.  The 
Empress  Dowager  did  not  remain  to  witness  the  ceremony 
of  clothing  the  body  in  the  Dragon  Robes,  but  returned 
forthwith  to  her  own  palace,  where  she  gave  orders  for  the 
issue  of  his  valedictory  Decree  and  for  the  proclamation  of 
the  new  Emperor. 

The  most  interesting  passage  of  the  Emperor's  vale- 
dictory Decree  was  the  following  :  "  Reflecting  on  the  critical 
condition  of  our  Empire,  we  have  been  led  to  combine  the 
Chinese  system  with  certain  innovations  from  foreign 
countries.  We  have  endeavoured  to  establish  harmony 
between  the  common  people  and  converts  to  Christianity. 
We  have  reorganised  the  army  and  founded  colleges. 
We  have  fostered  trade  and  industries  and  have  made 
provision  for  a  new  judicial  system,  paving  also  the  way 
for  a  Constitutional  form  of  government,  so  that  all 
our  subjects  may  enjoy  the  continued  blessings  of  peace." 
After  referring  to  the  appointment  of  the  Regent  and 
the  nomination  of  a  successor  to  the  Dragon  Throne,  he 
concluded  (or  rather  the  Empress  concluded  for  him) 
with  a  further  reference  to  the  Constitution,  and  an  appeal 
to    his    Ministers    to    purify    their    hearts    and    prepare 


288    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

themselves,  so  that,  after  nine  years,  the  new  order  may 
be  accomplished,  and  the  Imperial  purposes  successfully 
achieved. 

The  Old  Buddha  appeared  at  this  juncture  to  be  in  par- 
ticularly good  spirits,  astonishing  all  about  her  by  her 
vivacity  and  keenness.  She  gave  orders  that  a  further 
Decree  be  published,  in  the  name  of  the  new  Emperor, 
containing  the  usual  laudation  of  the  deceased  monarch 
and  an  expression  of  the  infant  Emperor's  gratitude  to  the 
Empress  Dowager  for  her  benevolence  in  placing  him  on 
the  Throne. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Censor  Wu  K'o-tu  com- 
mitted suicide  at  the  beginning  of  Kuang-Hsii's  reign,  as 
an  act  of  protest  at  the  irregularity  in  the  succession,  which 
left  no  heir  to  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih,  that  monarch's 
spirit  being  left  desolate  and  without  a  successor  to  per- 
form on  his  behalf  the  ancestral  sacrifices.  The  child,  P'u 
Yi,  having  now  been  made  heir  by  adoption  to  T'ung- 
Chih,  in  fulfilment  of  the  promise  made  by  Tzu  Hsi  at 
the  time  of  this  sensational  suicide,  it  appeared  as  if  the 
irregularity  were  about  to  be  repeated,  and  the  soul  of 
Kuang-HsU  to  be  left  in  a  similar  orbate  condition  in  the 
Halls  of  Hades,  unless  some  means  could  be  found  to 
solve  the  difficulty  and  meet  the  claims  of  both  the  deceased 
Emperors.  In  the  event  of  Kuang-Hsii  being  left  without 
heir  or  descendant  to  perform  the  all-important  worship  at 
his  shrine,  there  could  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  feelings 
of  the  orthodox  would  again  be  outraged,  and  the  example 
of  Wu  K'o-tu  might  have  been  followed  by  other  Censors. 
The  Empress  Dowager,  realising  the  importance  of  the 
question,  solved  it  in  her  own  masterful  way  by  a  stroke  of 
policy  which,  although  without  precisely  applicable  prece- 
dent in  history,  nevertheless  appeared  to  satisfy  all  parties, 
and  to  placate  all  prejudices,  if  only  by  reason  of  its 
simplicity  and  originality.  Her  Decree  on  the  subject  was 
as  follows  : —  ♦ 

"The  Emperor  T'ung-Chih,  having  left  no  heir,  was  com- 
pelled to  issue  a  Decree  to  the  effect  that  so  soon  as  a  child 
should  be  born  to  His  Majesty  Kuang-Hsu,  that  child  would 


HER   MAJESTY'S   LAST   DAYS  289 

be  adopted  as  Heir  to  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih.  But  now  his 
Majesty  Kuang-Hsii  has  ascended  on  high,  dragon-borne,  and 
he  also  has  left  no  heir.  I  am,  therefore,  now  obliged  to 
decree  that  P'u  Yi,  son  of  Tsai  Feng,  the  '  Prince  co-operating 
in  the  Government,'  should  become  heir  by  adoption  to  the 
Emperor  T'ung-Chih,  and  that,  at  the  same  time,  he  should 
perform  joint  sacrifices  at  the  shrine  of  His  Majesty  Kuang- 
Hsii." 

To  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  tangled  web  of 
Chinese  Court  ceremonial  and  the  laws  of  succession,  it 
would  seem  that  so  simple  (and  so  new)  an  expedient  might 
suitably  have  been  adopted  on  previous  similar  occasions, 
since  all  that  was  required  was  to  make  the  individual  living 
Emperor  assume  a  dual  personality  towards  the  dead,  and 
one  cannot  help  wondering  whether  the  classical  priestcraft 
which  controls  these  things  would  have  accepted  the 
solution  so  readily  at  the  hands  of  anyone  less  masterful 
and  determined  than  Tzu  Hsi. 

In  a  subsequent  Decree  the  Empress  Dowager  handed 
over  to  the  Regent  full  control  in  all  routine  business, 
reserving  only  to  herself  the  last  word  in  all  important 
matters  of  State.  The  effect  of  this  arrangement  was  to 
place  Prince  Ch'un  in  much  the  same  position  of  nominal 
sovereignty  as  that  held  by  Kuang-Hsii  himsel(^  until  such 
time  as  the  young  Emperor  should  come  of  age,  or  until 
the  death  of  the  Empress  Dowager.  In  other  words,  Tzu 
Hsi  had  once  more  put  in  operation  the  machinery  by 
which  she  had  acquired  and  held  the  supreme  power  since 
the  death  of  her  husband,  the  Emperor  Hsien-Feng.  There 
is  little  doubt  that  at  this  moment  she  fully  expected  to  live 
for  many  years  more,  and  that  she  made  her  plans  so  as  to 
enjoy  to  the  end  uninterrupted  and  undiminished  authority. 
In  her  Decree  on  this  subject,  wherein,  as  usual,  she  justi- 
fies her  proceedings  by  reference  to  the  critical  condition 
of  affairs,  she  states  that  the  Regent  is  to  carry  on  the 
Government  "subject  always  to  the  instructions  of  the 
Empress  Dowager,"  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  had 
she  lived  the  Emperor's  brother  would  no  more  have  been 
permitted  any  independent  initiative  or  authority  than  the 
unfortunate  Kuang-Hsii  himself. 


XX 

TZU   HSI'S    DEATH   AND  BURIAL 

At  the  close  of  a  long  and  exciting  day,  Her  Majesty 
retired  to  rest  on  the  14th  of  November,  weary  with  her 
labours  but  apparently  much  improved  in  health.  Next 
morning  she  arose  at  her  usual  hour,  6  a.m.,  gave  audience 
to  the  Grand  Council  and  talked  for  some  time  with  the 
late  Emperor's  widow,  with  the  Regent  and  with  his  wife, 
the  daughter  of  Jung  Lu.  By  a  Decree  issued  in  the  name 
of  the  infant  Emperor,  she  assumed  the  title  of  Empress 
Grand  Dowager,  making  Kuang-Hsii's  widow  Empress 
Dowager.  Elaborate  ceremonies  were  planned  to  celebrate 
the  bestowal  of  these  new  titles,  and  to  proclaim  the  in- 
stallation of  the  Regent.  Suddenly,  at  noon,  while  sitting 
at  her  meal,  the  Old  Buddha  was  seized  with  a  fainting  fit, 
long  and  severe.  When  at  last  she  recovered  conscious- 
ness, it  was  clear  to  all  that  the  stress  and  excitement  of  the 
past  few  days  had  brought  on  a  relapse,  her  strength 
having  been  undermined  by  the  long  attack  of  dysentery. 
Realising  that  her  end  was  near,  she  hurriedly  summoned 
the  new  Empress  Dowager,  the  Regent  and  the  Grand 
Council  to  the  palace,  where,  upon  their  coming  together, 
she  dictated  the  following  Decree,  speaking  in  the  same 
calm  tones  which  slie  habitually  used  in  transacting  the 
daily  routine  of  Government  work:  — 

"  By  command  of  the  Empress  Grand  Dowager :  Yesterday 
I  issued  an  Edict  whereby  Prince  Ch'un  was  made  Regent, 
and  I  commanded  that  the  whole  business  of  Government 
should  be  in  his  hands,  subject  only  to  my  instructions.  Being 
seized  of  a  mortal  sickness,  and  being  without  hope  of  recovery, 
I  now  order  that  henceforward  the  government  of  the  Empire 
shall  be  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Regent.  Nevertheless, 
should  there  arise  any  question  of  vital  importance,  in  regard 
to  which  an  expression  of  the  Empress  Dowager's  opinion 
is  desirable,  the  Regent  shall  apply  in  person  to  her  for 
instructions,  and  act  accordingly." 

290 


TZC  HSI'S  DEATH  AND  BURIAL  291 

The  significance  of  the  conclusion  of  this  Decree  is 
apparent  to  anyone  famihar  with  Chinese  Court  procedure 
and  with  the  Hfe  history  of  the  Empress  herself.  Its  in- 
genious wording  was  expressly  intended  to  afford  to  the 
new  Empress  Dowager  and  the  Yehonala  Clan  an  oppor- 
tunity for  intervention  at  any  special  crisis,  thus  maintain- 
ing the  Clan's  final  authority  and  safeguarding  its  position 
in  the  event  of  any  hostile  move  by  the  Regent  or  his 
adherents.  The  result  of  this  precaution  was  manifested 
on  the  occasion  of  the  dismissal  of  Tuan  Fang  from  the 
Viceroyalty  of  Chihli  for  alleged  want  of  respect  in  con- 
nection with  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  the  Empress 
Dowager,  an  episode  which  showed  clearly  that  the  Regent 
would  have  no  easy  game  to  play,  and  that  the  new 
Empress  Dowager,  Lung  Yii,  had  every  intention  to  de- 
fend the  position  of  the  Clan  and  to  take  advantage  thereof, 
along  lines  very  similar  to  those  followed  by  her  august 
predecessor. 

After  issuing  the  Decree  above  quoted,  the  Empress 
Dowager,  rapidly  sinking,  commanded  that  her  valedictory 
Decree  be  drafted  and  submitted  to  her  for  approval.  This 
was  done  quickly.  After  perusing  the  document,  she  pro- 
ceeded to  correct  it  in  several  places,  notably  by  the  addition 
of  the  sentence :  "  It  became  my  inevitable  and  bounden 
duty  to  assume  the  Regency."  Commenting  on  this  addi- 
tion, she  volunteered  the  explanation  that  she  wished  it 
inserted  because  on  more  than  one  occasion  her  assumption 
of  the  supreme  power  had  been  wrongfully  attributed  to 
personal  ambition,  whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  welfare 
of  the  State  had  always  weighed  with  her  as  much  as  her 
own  inclinations,  and  she  had  been  forced  into  this  posi- 
tion. From  her  own  pen  also  came  the  touching  conclu- 
sion of  the  Decree,  that  sentence  which  begins  :  *'  Looking 
back  over  the  memories  of  these  fifty  years,"  etc.  She 
observed,  in  writing  this,  that  she  had  nothing  to  regret  in 
her  life,  and  could  only  wish  that  it  might  have  lasted  for 
many  years  more.  She  then  proceeded  to  bid  an  affec- 
tionate farewell  to  her  numerous  personal  attendants  and 
the  waiting  maids  around  her,  all  of  whom  were  overcome 


292    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

by  very  real  and  deep  grief.  To  the  end  her  mind  remained 
quite  clear ;  and,  at  the  very  point  of  death,  she  continued 
to  speak  as  calmly  as  if  she  were  just  about  to  set  out  on 
one  of  her  progresses  to  the  Summer  Palace.  Again  and 
again,  when  all  thought  the  end  had  come,  she  recovered 
consciousness,  and  up  to  the  end  the  watchers  at  her  bed- 
side could  not  help  hoping  (or  fearing,  as  the  case  might 
be  with  them)  that  she  would  yet  get  the  better  of  Death. 
At  the  last,  in  articulo  mortiSy  they  asked  her,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Chinese  custom,  to  pronounce  her  last  words. 
Strangely  significant  was  the  answer  of  the  extraordinary 
woman  who  had  moulded  and  guided  the  destinies  of  the 
Chinese  people  for  half  a  century:  "Never  again,"  she 
said,  "allow  any  woman  to  hold  the  supreme  power  in  the 
State.  It  is  against  the  house-law  of  our  Dynasty  and 
should  be  strictly  forbidden.  Be  careful  not  to  permit 
eunuchs  to  meddle  in  Government  matters.  The  Ming 
Dynasty  was  brought  to  ruin  by  eunuchs,  and  its  fate 
should  be  a  warning  to  my  people."  Tzu  Hsi  died,  as  she 
had  lived,  above  the  law,  yet  jealous  of  its  fulfilment  by 
others.  Only  a  few  hours  before  she  had  provided  for  the 
transmission  of  authority  to  a  woman  of  her  own  clan  : 
now,  confronting  the  dark  Beyond,  she  hesitated  to  per- 
petuate a  system  which,  in  any  but  the  strongest  hands, 
could  not  fail  to  throw  the  Empire  into  confusion.  She 
died,  as  she  had  lived,  a  creature  of  impulse  and  swiftly 
changing  moods,  a  woman  of  infinite  variety. 

At  3  P.M.,  straightening  her  limbs,  she  expired  with  her 
face  to  the  south,  which  is  the  correct  position,  according  to 
Chinese  ideas,  for  a  dying  sovereign.  It  was  reported  by 
those  who  saw  her  die  that  her  mouth  remained  fixedly 
open,  which  the  Chinese  interpret  as  a  sign  that  the  spirit  of 
the  deceased  is  unwilling  to  leave  the  body  and  to  take  its 
departure  for  the  place  of  the  Nine  Springs. 

Thus  died  Tzu  Hsi;  and  when  her  ladies  and  hand- 
maidens had  dressed  the  body  in  its  Robes  of  State,  em- 
broidered with  the  Imperial  Dragon,  her  remains  and  those 
of  the  Emperor  were  borne  from  the  Lake  Palace  to  the 
Forbidden  City,  through  long  lines  of  their  kneeling  sub* 


TZtJ  HSrS  DEATH  AND   BURIAL  393 

jects,  and  were  reverently  laid  in  separate  Halls  of  the 
Palace,  with  all  due  state  and  ceremony. 

The  valedictory  Decree  of  Tzu  Hsi,  the  last  words  from 
that  pen  which  had  indeed  been  mightier  than  many 
swords,  was  for  the  most  part  a  faithful  reproduction  of 
the  classical  models,  the  orthodox  swan-song  of  the  ruler 
of  a  people  which  makes  of  its  writings  a  religion.  Its 
concluding  words  were  as  follows :  — 

"Looking  back  upon  the  memories  of  these  last  fifty  years, 
I  perceive  how  calamities  from  within  and  aggression  from 
without  have  come  upon  us  in  relentless  succession,  and  that 
my  life  has  never  enjoyed  a  moment's  respite  from  anxiety. 
But  to-day  definite  progress  has  been  made  towards  necessary 
reforms.  The  new  Emperor  is  but  an  infant,  just  reaching 
the  age  when  wise  instruction  is  of  the  highest  importance. 
The  Prince  Regent  and  all  our  ofl&cials  must  henceforward 
work  loyally  together  to  strengthen  the  foundations  of  our 
Empire.  His  Majesty  must  devote  himself  to  studying  the 
interests  of  the  country  and  so  refrain  from  giving  way  to 
personal  grief.  That  he  may  diligently  pursue  his  studies,  and 
hereafter  add  fresh  lustre  to  the  glorious  achievements  of  his 
ancestors,  is  now  my  most  earnest  prayer. 

"Mourning  to  be  worn  for  only  twenty-seven  days. 

"  Cause  this  to  be  everywhere  known  ! 

"Tenth  Moon,  23rd  day  (November  the  15th)." 

The  title  by  which  Her  Majesty  was  canonised  contains 
no  less  than  twenty-two  characters,  sixteen  of  which  were 
hers  at  the  day  of  her  death,  the  other  six  having  been 
added  in  the  Imperial  Decrees  which  recorded  her  decease 
and  praised  her  glorious  achievements.  The  first  character 
"  Dutiful  " — i.  e.  to  her  husband — is  always  accorded  to  a 
deceased  Empress.  It  is  significant  of  the  unpractical 
nature  of  the  literati,  or  of  their  cynicism,  that  the  second  of 
her  latest  titles  signifies  "reverend,"  implying  punctilious 
adherence  to  ancestral  traditions !  The  third  and  fourth 
mean  "Equal  of  Heaven,"  which  places  her  on  a  footing 
of  equality  with  Confucius,  while  the  fifth  and  sixth  raise 
her  even  higher  than  the  Sage  in  the  national  Pantheon, 
for  it  means  "Increase  in  Sanctity,"  of  which  Confucius 
was  only  a  "Manifestor."     In  the  records  of  the  Dynasty 


294    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

she  will  henceforth  be  known  as  the  Empress  "Dutiful, 
Reverend  and  Glorious,"  a  title,  according  to  the  laws 
of  Chinese  honorifics,  higher  than  any  woman  ruler  has 
hitherto  received  since  the  beginning  of  history. 

Since  her  death,  the  prestige  of  the  Empress  Dowager, 
and  her  hold  on  the  imagination  of  the  people,  have  grown 
rather  than  decreased.  Around  her  coflfin,  while  it  lay  first 
in  her  Palace  of  Peaceful  Longevity  and  later  in  a  hall 
at  the  foot  of  the  Coal  Hill,  north  of  the  Forbidden  City, 
awaiting  the  appointed  day  propitious  for  burial,  there 
gathered  something  more  than  the  conventional  regrets 
and  honours  which  fall  usually  to  the  lot  of  China's  rulers. 
Officials  as  well  as  people  felt  that  with  her  they  had  lost 
the  strong  hand  of  guidance,  and  a  personality  which 
appealed  to  most  of  them  as  much  from  the  human  as  from 
the  official  point  of  view.  Their  affectionate  recollections 
of  the  Old  Buddha  were  clearly  shown  by  the  elaborate 
sacrifices  paid  to  her  manes  at  various  periods  from  the  day 
of  her  death  to  that  day,  a  year  later,  when  her  ancestral 
tablet  was  brought  home  to  the  Forbidden  City  from  the 
Imperial  tombs  with  all  pomp  and  circumstance. 

On  the  All  Souls'  day  of  the  Buddhists,  celebrated  in  the 
7th  Moon,  and  which  fell  in  the  September  following  her 
death,  a  magnificent  barge,  made  of  paper  and  over  a 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  was  set  up  outside  the  For- 
bidden City  on  a  large  empty  space  adjoining  the  Coal 
Hill.  It  was  crowded  with  figures  of  attendant  eunuchs 
and  handmaidens,  and  contained  furniture  and  viands  for 
the  use  of  the  illustrious  dead  in  the  lower  regions.  A 
throne  was  placed  in  the  bows,  and  around  it  were  kneeling 
effigies  of  attendant  officials  all  wearing  their  Robes  of 
State  as  if  the  shade  of  Tzu  Hsi  were  holding  an  audience. 

On  the  morning  of  the  All  Souls'  festival  the  Regent, 
in  the  name  of  the  Emperor,  performed  sacrifice  before 
the  barge,  which  was  then  set  alight  and  burnt,  in  order  that 
the  Old  Buddha  might  enjoy  the  use  of  it  at  the  "yellow 
springs."  A  day  or  two  before  her  funeral,  hundreds  of 
paper  effigies  of  attendants,  cavalry,  camels  and  other  pack 
animals,  were   similarly   burni   so   that   her   spirit   might 


TZtJ  HSrS  DEATH  AND   BURIAL  295 

enjoy  all  the  pomp  to  which  she  had  been  accustomed 
in  life. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from   the  account  of  her 
funeral  published  in  The  Times  of  27th  November  1909  :  — 

"The  conveyance  of  Her  Majesty's  ancestral  tablet  from  the 
tombs  of  the  Eastern  Hills  to  its  resting-place  in  the  Temple 
of  Ancestors  in  the  Forbidden  City  was  a  ceremony  in  the 
highest  degree  impressive  and  indicative  of  the  vitality  of  those 
feelings  which  make  ancestor-worship  the  most  important  factor 
in  the  life  of  the  Chinese.  The  tablet,  a  simple  strip  of  carved 
and  lacquered  wood,  bearing  the  name  of  the  deceased  in 
Manchu  and  Chinese  characters,  had  been  officially  present  at 
the  burial.  With  the  closing  of  the  great  door  of  the  tomb,  the 
spirit  of  the  departed  ruler  is  supposed  to  be  translated  to 
the  tablet,  and  to  the  latter  is  therefore  given  honour  equal  to 
that  which  was  accorded  to  the  sovereign  during  her  lifetime. 
Borne  aloft  in  a  gorgeous  chariot  draped  with  Imperial  yellow 
silk  and  attended  by  a  large  mounted  escort,  Tzii  Hsi's  tablet 
journeyed  slowly  and  solemnly,  in  three  days'  stages,  from  the 
Eastern  Hills  to  Peking.  At  each  stage  it  rested  for  the  night 
in  a  specially  constructed  pavilion,  being  '  invited  '  by  the 
Master  of  the  Ceremonies,  on  his  knees  and  with  all  solemnity, 
to  be  pleased  to  leave  its  chariot  and  rest.  For  the  passage 
of  this  habitation  of  the  spirit  of  the  mighty  dead,  the  Imperial 
road  had  been  specially  prepared  and  swept  by  an  army  of  men ; 
it  had  become  a  via  sacra  on  which  no  profane  feet  might  come 
or  go.  As  the  procession  bearing  the  sacred  tablet  drew  near 
to  the  gates  of  the  capital,  the  Prince  Regent  and  all  the  high 
officers  of  the  Court  knelt  reverently  to  receive  it.  All  traffic 
was  stopped ;  every  sound  stilled  in  the  streets,  where  the 
people  knelt  to  do  homage  to  the  memory  of  the  Old  Buddha. 
Slowly  and  solemnly  the  chariot  was  borne  through  the  main 
gate  of  the  Forbidden  City  to  the  Temple  of  the  Dynasty's 
ancestors,  the  most  sacred  spot  in  the  Empire,  where  it  was 
*  invited  '  to  take  its  appointed  place  among  the  nine  Ancestors 
and  their  thirty-five  Imperial  Consorts.  Before  this  could  be 
done,  however,  it  was  necessary  that  the  tablets  of  TzCi  Hsi's 
son,  T'ung-Chih,  and  of  her  daughter-in-law,  should  first  be 
removed  from  that  august  assembly,  because  due  ceremony 
required  that  the  arriving  tablet  should  perform  obeisance  to 
those  of  its  ancestors,  and  it  would  not  be  fitting  for  the  tablet 
of  a  parent  to  perform  this  ceremony  in  the  presence  of  that  of 
a  son  or  daughter-in-law.  The  act  of  obeisance  was  performed 
by  deputy,  in  the  person  of  the  Regent  acting  for  the  child 
Emperor,  and  consisted  of  nine  *  ko-tows  '  before  each  tablet  in 
the  Temple,  or  about  400  prostrations  in  all.     When  these  had 


296    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

been  completed,  with  due  regard  to  the  order  of  seniority  of 
the  deceased,  the  tablets  of  the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih  and  his 
wife  were  formally  *  invited  '  to  return  to  the  Temple,  where 
obeisance  was  made  on  their  behalf  to  the  shade  of  TzG  Hsi 
which  had  been  placed  in  the  shrine  beside  that  of  her  former 
colleague  and  co-regent,  the  Empress  Tzti  An." 

Thus  ended  the  last  ceremonial  act  of  the  life  and  death 
of  this  remarkable  woman ;  but  her  spirit  still  watches  over 
the  Forbidden  City  and  the  affairs  of  her  people,  who  firmly 
believe  that  it  will  in  due  time  guide  the  nation  to  a  happy 
issue  out  of  all  their  afflictions.  As  time  goes  on,  the 
weaknesses  of  her  character  and  the  errors  of  her  career  are 
forgotten,  and  her  greatness  only  remembered.  And  no 
better  epitaph  could  be  written  for  this  great  Manchu  than 
that  of  her  own  valedictory  Decree  which,  rising  above  all 
the  pettiness  and  humiliations  of  her  reign,  looking  death 
and  change  steadfastly  in  the  face,  raises  her  in  our  eyes 
(to  quote  a  writer  in  The  Spectator)  *'to  that  vague  ideal 
state  of  human  governance  imagined  by  the  Greek,  when 
the  Kings  should  be  philosophers  and  the  philosophers 
Kings." 

*  2nd  January,  1909. 


XXI 

CONCLUSION 

"All  sweeping  judgments,"  says  Coleridge,  "are  un- 
just." Comprendre — says  the  French  philosopher — c'est 
tout  pardonner.  To  understand  the  life  and  personality 
of  the  Empress  Dowager,  it  is  before  everything  essential 
to  divest  our  minds  of  racial  prejudice  and  to  endeavour  to 
appreciate  something  of  the  environment  and  traditions  to 
which  she  was  born.  In  the  words  of  the  thoughtful  article 
in  The  Spectator y  already  quoted,  "she  lived  and  worked 
and  ruled  in  a  setting  which  is  apart  from  all  western 
modes  of  thought  and  standards  of  action,  and  the  first  step 
in  the  historian's  task  is  to  see  that  she  is  judged  by  her 
own  standards  and  not  wholly  by  ours."  Judged  by  the 
rough  test  of  public  opinion  and  accumulating  evidence  in 
her  own  country,  Tzu  Hsi's  name  will  go  down  to  history 
in  China  as  that  of  a  genius  in  statecraft  and  a  born  ruler, 
a  woman  "with  all  the  courage  of  a  man,  and  more  than 
the  ordinary  man's  intelligence."  ^ 

Pending  that  reform  and  liberty  of  the  Press  which  is 
still  the  distant  dream  of  "Young  China,"  no  useful  record 
of  the  life  and  times  of  the  Empress  Dowager  is  to  be 
expected  from  any  Chinese  writer.  Despite  the  mass  of 
information  which  exists  in  the  diaries  and  archives  of 
metropolitan  officials  and  the  personal  reminiscences  of 
those  who  knew  her  well,  nothing  of  any  human  interest  or 
value  has  been  published  on  the  subject  in  China.  From 
the  official  and  orthodox  point  of  view,  a  truthful  biography 
of  the  Empress  would  be  sacrilege.  It  is  true  that  in  the 
vernacular  newspapers  under  European  protection  at  the 
Treaty  Ports,  as  well  as  in  Hongkong  and  Singapore, 
Cantonese  writers  have  given  impressions  of  Her  Majesty's 
personality  and  brief  accounts  of  her  life,  but  these  are 
^  Vt^e  the  Diary  of  Ching  Shan,  p.  179. 
^97 


298    CHINA   UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

so  hopelessly  biassed  and  distorted  by  hatred  of  the 
Manchus  as  to  be  almost  worthless  for  historical  purposes, 
as  worthless  as  the  dry  chronicles  of  the  dynastic  annals. 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  best  known  of  these 
publications,  a  series  of  letters  originally  published  in  a 
Singapore  newspaper  and  republished  under  the  title  of 
"The  Chinese  Crisis  from  Within,"^  by  a  writer  who,  under 
the  nom  de  plume  of  "Wen  Ching,"  concealed  the  identity 
of  one  of  K'ang  Yu-wei's  most  ardent  disciples.  His 
work  is  remarkable  for  sustained  invective  and  reckless 
inaccuracy,  clearly  intended  to  create  an  atmosphere  of 
hatred  against  the  Manchus  (for  the  ultimate  benefit  of  the 
Cantonese)  in  the  minds  of  his  countrymen,  and  to  dissuade 
the  foreign  Powers  from  allowing  the  Empress  to  return 
to  Peking.  Drawing  on  a  typically  Babu  store  of  "western 
learning,"  this  writer  compares  the  Empress  to  Circe, 
Semiramis,  Catherine  de  Medici,  Messalina,  Fulvia,  and 
Julia  Agrippina;  quoting  Dante  and  Rossetti  to  enforce 
his  arguments,  and  leavening  his  vituperation  with  a 
modicum  of  verifiable  facts  sufficient  to  give  to  his  narrative 
something  of  vraisemhlance.  But  his  judgment  is  em- 
phatically sweeping.  He  ignores  alike  Tzu  Hsi's  undeni- 
able good  qualities  and  her  extenuating  circumstances,  the 
defects  of  her  education  and  the  difficulties  of  her  position, 
so  that  his  work  is  almost  valueless. 

Equally  valueless,  for  purposes  of  historical  accuracy, 
are  most  of  the  accounts  and  impressions  of  the  Empress 
recorded  by  those  Europeans  (especially  the  ladies  of  the 
Diplomatic  Body  and  their  friends)  who  saw  her  person- 
ality and  purposes  reflected  in  the  false  light  which  beats 
upon  the  Dragon  Throne  on  ceremonial  occasions,  or  who 
came  under  the  influence  of  the  deliberate  artifices  and 
charm  of  manner  which  she  assumed  so  well.  Had  the 
etiquette  of  her  Court  and  people  permitted  intercourse 
with  European  diplomats  and  distinguished  visitors  of  the 
male  sex,  she  would  certainly  have  acquired,  and  exercised 
over  them  also,  that  direct  personal  influence  which 
emanated  from  her  extraordinary  vitality  and  will-power, 
1  Grant  Richards,  1901 


CONCLUSION  299 

influence  such  as  the  western  world  has  learned  to  associate 
with  the  names  of  the  Emperor  William  of  Germany  and 
Mr.  Roosevelt.  Restricted  as  she  was  to  social  relations 
with  her  own  sex  amongst  foreigners,  she  exerted  herself, 
and  never  failed,  to  produce  on  them  an  impression  of 
womanly  grace  and  gentleness  of  disposition,  which  quali- 
ties we  find  accordingly  praised  by  nearly  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  her  after  the  return  of  the  Court,  aye,  even  by 
those  who  had  undergone  the  horrors  of  the  siege  under  the 
very  walls  of  her  palace.  The  glamour  of  her  mysterious 
Court,  the  rarity  of  the  visions  vouchsafed,  the  real  charm 
of  her  manner,  and  the  apparently  artless  bonhomie  of 
her  bearing,  all  combined  to  create  in  the  minds  of  the 
European  ladies  who  saw  her  an  impression  as  favourable 
as  it  was  opposed  to  every  dictate  of  common  sense  and 
experience.  In  certain  notable  instances,  the  effect  of  this 
impression  reacted  visibly  on  the  course  of  the  Peace 
Protocol  negotiations. 

From  the  Diary  of  Ching  Shan  we  obtain  an  estimate  of 
Tzu  Hsi's  character,  formed  by  one  who  had  enjoyed  for 
years  continual  opportunities  of  studying  her  at  close 
quarters — an  estimate  which  was,  and  is,  confirmed  by  the 
popular  verdict,  the  common  report  of  the  tea-houses  and 
market  places  of  the  capital.  Despite  her  swiftly  changing 
and  uncontrolled  moods,  her  shildish  lack  of  moral  sense, 
her  unscrupulous  love  of  power,  her  fierce  passions  and 
revenges,  Tzu  Hsi  was  no  more  the  savage  monster 
described  by  "Wen  Ching,"  than  she  was  the  benevolent, 
fashion-plate  Lady  Bountiful  of  the  American  magazines. 
She  was  simply  a  woman  of  unusual  courage  and  vitality, 
of  strong  will  and  unbounded  ambition,  a  woman  and  an 
Oriental,  living  out  her  life  by  such  lights  as  she  knew,  and 
in  accordance  with  the  traditions  of  her  race  and  caste. 
Says  Ching  Shan  in  the  Diary  :  The  nature  of  the  Em- 
press is  peace-loving :  she  has  seen  many  springs  and 
autumns.  I  myself  know  well  her  refined  and  gentle  tastes, 
her  love  of  painting,  poetry  and  the  theatre.  When  in  a 
good  mood  she  is  the  most  amiable  and  tractable  of  women, 
but  at  times  her  rage  is  awful  to  witness.     Here  we  have 


300    CHINA  UNDER  THE   EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

the  woman  drawn  from  life,  without  arriere  pensie,  by  a 
just  but  sympathetic  observer,  the  woman  who  could  win, 
and  hold,  the  affectionate  loyalty  of  the  greatest  men  of 
her  time,  not  to  speak  of  that  of  her  retainers  and  serving 
maids ;  the  woman  whose  human  interest  and  sympathy  in 
everything  around  her  were  not  withered  by  age  nor  staled 
by  custom ;  yet  who,  at  a  word,  could  send  the  fierce  leaders 
of  the  Boxers  cowering  from  her  presence.  Souvent  femme 
varie.  Tzu  Hsi,  her  own  mistress  and  virtual  ruler  of  the 
Empire  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  had  not  had  much  occa- 
sion to  learn  to  control  either  her  moods  or  her  passions. 
Hers,  from  the  first,  was  the  trick  and  temper  of  autocracy. 
Trained  in  the  traditions  of  a  Court  where  human  lives 
count  for  little,  where  power  maintains  itself  by  pitiless 
and  brutal  methods,  where  treason  and  foul  deeds  lie  in 
waiting  for  the  first  signs  of  the  ruler's  weakness,  how 
should  she  learn  to  put  away  from  the  Forbidden  City  the 
hideous  barbarities  of  its  ways  ? 

Let  us  remember  her  time  and  place.  Consider  the 
woman's  environment  and  training,  her  marriage  to  a  dis- 
solute puppet,  her  subsequent  life  in  that  gilded  prison  of 
the  Imperial  city,  with  its  endless  formalities,  base  in- 
trigues and  artificial  sins.  Prior  to  the  establishment  of 
China's  first  diplomatic  relations  with  European  nations, 
the  Court  of  Peking  and  its  ways  bore  a  strong  resemblance 
to  those  of  Medieval  Europe ;  nor  have  successive  routs  and 
invasions  since  that  date  changed  any  of  its  cherished  tradi- 
tions and  methods.  In  the  words  of  a  recent  writer  on 
medieval  history,  the  life  of  the  Peking  Palace,  like  that 
of  our  fourteenth  century,  "was  one  of  profound  learning 
and  crass  stupidity,  of  infantile  gaiety  and  sudden  tragedy, 
of  flashing  fortunes  and  swift  dooms.  There  is  a  certain 
innocence  about  the  very  sinners  of  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries.  Many  of  their  problems,  indeed,  arose 
from  the  fact  that  this  same  childlike  candour  was  allied 
to  the  unworn  forces  of  full  manhood."  Whatever  crimes 
of  cruelty  and  vengeance  Tzu  Hsi  committed — and  they 
were  many — be  it  said  to  her  credit  that  she  had,  as  a  rule, 
the  courage  of  her  convictions  and  position,  and  sinned 


• 


CONCLUSION  301 

coram  publico.  Beneath  the  fierceness  without  which  an 
Oriental  ruler  cannot  hope  to  remain  effective,  there  cer- 
tainly beat  a  heart  which  could  be  kind,  if  the  conditions 
were  propitious,  and  a  rough  sense  of  humour,  which  is  a 
common  and  pleasing  trait  of  the  Manchus. 

Let  us  also  remember  that  in  the  East  to-day  (as  it  was 
with  us  of  Europe  before  the  growth  of  that  humanitarian- 
ism  which  now  shows  signs  of  unhealthy  exaggeration)  pain 
and  death  are  part  of  the  common,  every-day  risks  of  life, 
risks  lightly  incurred  by  the  average  Oriental  in  the  great 
game  of  ambitions,  loves,  and  hates  that  is  for  ever  played 
around  the  Throne.  Tzu  Hsi  played  her  royal  part  in  the 
great  game,  but  it  is  not  recorded  of  her  that  she  ever  took 
life  from  sheer  cruelty  or  love  of  killing.  When  she  sent 
a  man  to  death,  it  was  because  he  stood  between  her  and 
the  full  and  safe  gratification  of  her  love  of  power.  When 
her  fierce  rage  was  turned  against  the  insolence  of  the 
foreigner,  she  had  no  scruple  in  consigning  every  European 
in  China  to  the  executioner;  when  the  Emperor's  favourite 
concubine  disputed  her  Imperial  authority  she  had  no 
hesitation  in  ordering  her  to  immediate  death ;  but  in  every 
recorded  instance,  except  one,  her  methods  were  swift, 
clean,  and,  from  the  Oriental  point  of  view,  not  unmerciful. 
She  had  no  liking  for  tortures,  or  the  lingering  death.  In 
all  her  Decrees  of  vengeance,  we  find  the  same  unhesitat- 
ing firmness  in  removing  human  obstacles  from  her  path, 
combined  with  a  complete  absence  of  that  unnecessary 
cruelty  which  is  so  frequently  associated  with  despotism. 
Her  methods,  in  fact,  were  Elizabethan  rather  than 
Florentine. 

If  Tzu  Hsi  developed  self-reliance  early  in  life,  the  fact  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  for  it  was  little  help  that  she  had  to 
look  for  in  her  entourage  of  Court  officials.  Amongst 
the  effete  classical  scholars,  the  fat-paunched  Falstaffs,  the 
opium  sots,  doddering  fatalists  and  corrupt  parasites  of  the 
Imperial  Clans,  she  seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  an 
anachronism,  a  "cast-back"  to  the  virility  and  energy  that 
won  China  for  her  sturdy  ancestors.  She  appeared  to  be 
the  born  and  inevitable  ruler  of  the  degenerate  Dynasty, 


302    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

and  if  she  became  a  law  unto  herself,  it  was  largely  be- 
cause there  were  few  about  her  fit  to  lead  or  to  command. 

Imbued  with  a  very  feminine  love  of  luxury,  addicted  to 
pleasure,  and  at  one  period  of  her  life  undoubtedly  licen- 
tious after  the  manner  of  her  Court's  traditions,  she  com- 
bined these  qualities  with  a  shrewd  common  sense  and  a 
marked  penchant  for  acquiring  and  amassing  personal 
property.  To  use  her  own  phrase,  she  endeavoured  in  all 
things  to  observe  the  principle  of  the  "happy  mean,"  and 
seldom  allowed  her  love  of  pleasure  to  obscure  her  vision 
or  to  hinder  her  purposes  in  the  serious  businesses  of  life. 

Like  many  great  rulers  of  the  imperious  and  militant 
type,  she  was  remarkably  superstitious,  a  punctilious 
observer  of  the  rites  prescribed  for  averting  omens  and 
conciliating  the  myriad  gods  and  demons  of  the  several 
religions  of  China,  a  liberal  supporter  of  priests  and  sooth- 
sayers. Nevertheless,  as  with  Elizabeth  of  England,  her 
secular  instincts  were  au  fond  stronger  than  all  her  super- 
stitions. That  sturdy  common  sense,  which  played  so 
successfully  upon  the  weaknesses  and  the  passions  of  her 
corrupt  entourage,  never  allowed  any  consideration  for  the 
powers  unseen  to  interfere  seriously  with  her  masterful 
handling  of  things  visible,  or  to  curb  her  ruling  passions 
for  unquestioned  authority. 

The  qualities  which  made  up  the  remarkable  personality 
of  the  Empress  were  many  and  complex,  but  of  those  which 
chiefly  contributed  to  her  popularity  and  power  we  would 
place,  first,  her  courage,  and  next,  a  certain  simplicity  and 
directness — both  qualities  that  stand  out  in  strong  relief 
against  the  timorous  and  tortuous  tendencies  of  the  average 
Manchu.  Of  her  courage  there  could  be  no  doubt;  even 
amidst  the  chaos  of  the  days  of  the  Boxer  terror  it  never 
failed  her,  and  Ching  Shan  is  only  one  of  many  who  bear 
witness  to  her  unconquerable  spirit  and  sang  froid.  Amidst 
scenes  of  desolation  and  destruction  that  might  well  shake 
the  courage  of  the  bravest  men,  we  see  her  calmly  painting 
bamboos  on  silk,  or  giving  orders  to  stop  the  bombardment 
of  the  Legations  to  allow  of  her  excursion  on  the  Lake. 
How  powerful  is  the  dramatic  quality  of  that  scene  where 


I 


<' 


Portrait  of  the  Empress  Dowager. 

Painted  from  life  by  Miss  Catharine  A.  Carl  for  the  St.  Louis  Exposition 

and  now  the  property  of  the  American  Nation. 

(^Reproduced  by  permission  of  the  Artist.^ 


c        c  « 

.  •    c    **    « 


CONCLUSION  303 

she  attacks  and  dominates  the  truculent  Boxer  leaders  at 
her  very  doors;  or  again  when,  on  the  morning  of  the 
flight,  she  alone  preserves  presence  of  mind,  and  gives  her 
orders  as  coolly  as  if  starting  on  a  picnic !  At  such 
moments  all  the  defects  of  her  training  and  temperament 
are  forgotten  in  the  irresistible  appeal  of  her  nobler 
qualities. 

Of  those  qualities,  and  of  her  divine  right  to  rule,  Tzu 
Hsi  herself  was  fully  convinced,  and  no  less  determined 
than  His  Majesty  of  Germany,  to  insist  upon  proper  recog- 
nition and  respect  for  herself  and  her  commanding  place 
in  the  scheme  of  the  universe.  Her  belief  in  her  own 
supreme  importance,  and  her  superstitious  habit  of  thought 
were  both  strikingly  displayed  on  the  occasion  when  her 
portrait,  painted  by  Miss  Carl  for  the  St.  Louis  Exposi- 
tion, was  taken  from  the  Waiwupu  on  its  departure  to  the 
United  States.  She  regarded  this  presentment  of  her 
august  person  as  entitled,  in  all  seriousness  of  ceremonial, 
to  the  same  reverence  as  herself,  and  gave  orders  for  the 
construction  of  a  miniature  railway,  to  be  built  through 
the  streets  of  the  capital  for  its  special  benefit.  By  this 
means  the  "sacred  countenance  "  was  carried  upright,  under 
its  canopy  of  yellow  silk,  and  Her  Majesty  was  spared  the 
thought  of  being  borne  in  effigy  on  the  shoulders  of  coolies 
— a  form  of  progress  too  suggestively  ill-omened  to  be 
endured.  Before  the  portrait  left  the  palace,  the  Em- 
peror was  summoned  to  prostrate  himself  before  it,  and 
at  its  passing  through  the  city,  and  along  the  railway  line, 
the  people  humbly  knelt,  as  if  it  had  been  the  Old  Buddha 
of  flesh  and  blood.  Incidents  of  this  kind  emphasise  the 
impossibility  of  fairly  judging  the  Empress  by  European 
standards  of  conduct  and  ideas.  To  get  something  of  the 
proper  atmosphere  and  perspective,  we  must  go  back  to 
the  early  days  of  the  Tudors. 

Blunt  of  speech  herself,  she  was  quick  to  detect  and 
resent  flattery.  Those  who  rose  highest  in  her  affection 
and  regard  were  essentially  strong  men,  blunt  outspoken 
officials  of  the  type  of  Jung  Lu,  Tseng  Kuo-fan,  and  Tso 
Tsung-t'ang;   for   those   who   would  win    her   favour   by 


304    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

sycophancy  she  had  a  profound  contempt,  which  she  was  at 
no  pains  to  conceal,  though  in  certain  instances  (e.  g. 
Chang  Chih-tung)  she  overlooked  the  offence  because  of 
ripe  scholarship  or  courage. 

As  was  only  natural,  Tzu  Hsi  was  not  above  favouring 
her  own  people,  the  Manchus,  but  one  great  secret  of  the 
solidity  of  her  rule  undoubtedly  lay  in  her  broad  impar- 
tiality and  the  nice  balance  which  she  maintained  between 
Chinese  and  Manchus  in  all  departments  of  the  Govern- 
ment. She  had  realised  that  the  brains  and  energy  of  the 
country  must  come  from  the  Chinese,  and  that  if  the 
Manchus  were  to  retain  their  power  and  sinecure  positions, 
it  must  be  with  the  good  will  of  the  Chinese  and  the  loyalty 
of  the  Mandarin  class  in  the  provinces.  From  the  com- 
mencement of  her  rule,  down  to  the  day  when  she  handed 
over  her  Boxer  kinsmen  to  the  executioner,  she  never 
hesitated  to  inflict  impartial  punishment  on  Manchus,  when 
public  opinion  was  against  them.  A  case  in  point  occurred 
in  1863,  in  connection  with  one  of  her  favourite  generals, 
named  Sheng  Pao,  who  had  gained  her  sincere  gratitude 
by  his  share  in  the  war  against  the  British  and  French  in- 
vaders in  i860,  and  who,  by  luck  and  the  ignorance  of  the 
Court,  had  been  credited  with  having  stopped  the  advance 
of  the  Allies  to  Jehol.  For  these  alleged  services  she  had 
awarded  him  special  thanks  and  high  honour.  In  1863, 
however,  he  was  engaged  in  Shensi,  fighting  the  Taipings, 
and,  following  a  custom  not  unusual  amongst  Chinese 
military  commanders,  had  asked  leave  to  win  over  one  of 
the  rebel  leaders  by  giving  him  an  important  official  posi- 
tion. Tzu  Hsi,  who  had  had  ample  opportunities  to  learn 
something  of  the  danger  of  this  procedure,  declined  to 
sanction  his  request,  pointing  out  the  objections  thereto. 
Sheng  Pao  ventured  to  suppress  her  Decree,  and  gave  the 
rebel  the  position  in  question.  Success  might  have  justi- 
fied him,  but  the  ex-bandit  justified  Tzu  Hsi  by  going 
back  on  his  word.  Awaiting  a  good  opportunity,  he  raised 
once  more  the  standard  of  revolt,  massacred  a  number  of 
officials,  and  captured  several  important  towns.     General 


CONCLUSION  305 

Sheng  Pao  was  arrested  and  brought  in  custody  to  Peking ; 
under  cross-examination  he  confessed,  amongst  other  mis- 
demeanours, that  he  had  permitted  women  to  accompany 
the  troops  during  this  campaign,  which,  by  Chinese  mili- 
tary law,  is  a  capital  offence.  Other  charges  against  him, 
however,  he  denied,  and,  preserving  an  insolent  attitude, 
demanded  to  be  confronted  with  his  accusers.  Tzu  Hsi 
issued  a  characteristically  vigorous  Decree  in  which  she 
declared  that  the  proper  punishment  for  his  offence  was 
decapitation,  but  inasmuch  as  he  had  acquired  merit  by 
good  work  against  the  Taipings,  as  well  as  against  the 
British  and  French  invaders,  she  graciously  granted  him 
the  privilege  of  committing  suicide,  of  which  he  promptly 
availed  himself. 

Tzu  Hsi,  as  we  have  said,  was  extremely  superstitious; 
nor  is  this  matter  for  wonder  when  we  bear  in  mind  the 
medieval  atmosphere  of  wizardous  necromancy  and  familiar 
spirits  which  she  had  perforce  absorbed  with  her  earliest 
education.  Following  the  precepts  of  Confucius,  she  pre- 
served always  a  broad  and  tolerant  attitude  on  all  questions 
of  religion,  but,  while  reluctant  to  discuss  things  appertain- 
ing to  the  unknown  gods,  she  was  always  prepared  to 
conciliate  them,  and  to  allow  her  actions  in  everyday  affairs 
to  be  guided  by  the  words  of  her  wise  men  and  astrologers  : 
"by  dreams,  and  by  Urim  and  by  prophets."  Thus  we 
find  her  in  the  first  year  of  the  Regency  of  her  son's 
minority  (1861)  issuing,  in  his  name,  a  Decree,  which 
carries  back  the  mind  irresistibly  to  Babylon  and  those 
days  when  the  magicians  and  soothsayers  were  high 
personages  in  the  State. 

"During  the  night  of  the  15th  of  the  7th  Moon,"  it  begins, 
"there  occurred  a  flight  of  shooting  stars  in  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere ;  ten  days  later,  a  comet  appeared  twice  in  the  sky  to  the 
north-west.  Heaven  sends  not  these  warnings  in  vain.  For 
the  last  month  Peking  has  been  visited  by  a  grievous  epidemic, 
whereof  the  continued  severity  fills  us  with  sore  dismay.  The 
Empresses  Dowager  have  now  warned  us  that  these  portents 
of  Heaven  are  sent  because  of  serious  wrong  in  our  system  of 
government,  of  errors  unreformed  and  grievances  unredressed," 

X 


3o6    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

and  the  Decree  ends  by  exhorting  all  concerned  "to  put  away 
frivolous  things,  so  that  Heaven,  perceiving  our  reverent 
attitude,  may  relent." 

In  previous  chapters  we  have  shown  with  what  punc- 
tilious attention  she  consulted  her  astrologers  in  regard  to 
the  propitious  day  for  re-entering  her  capital  on  the  Court's 
return  from  exile,  her  anxiety  for  scrupulous  observance 
of  their  advice  being  manifestly  sincere.  In  her  concern 
for  omens  and  portents  she  seemed,  like  Napoleon,  to  obey 
instincts  external  and  superior  to  another  and  very  practical 
side  of  her  nature,  which,  however,  asserted  itself  unmis- 
takably whenever  vital  issues  were  at  stake  and  her  supreme 
authority  threatened.  She  was  at  all  times  anxious  to 
secure  the  good  will  of  the  ancestral  spirits,  whose  presence 
she  apprehended  as  a  living  reality ;  but  even  with  these, 
when  it  came  to  a  direct  issue  between  her  own  despotic 
authority  and  their  claims  to  consideration,  she  never 
hesitated  to  relegate  the  mighty  dead  to  the  background, 
content  to  appease  them  in  due  season  by  suitable  expres- 
sions of  reverence  and  regret.  The  most  notable  instance 
of  this  kind  occurred  when,  disregarding  the  Dynastic  laws 
of  succession,  she  deprived  her  son,  the  Emperor  T'ung- 
Chih,  of  the  rites  of  ancestral  worship,  committing  thus  a 
crime  which,  as  she  well  knew,  was  heinous  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Chinese  people. 

Her  superstitious  tendencies  were  most  remarkably  dis- 
played in  the  matter  of  the  selection  of  the  site  of  her  tomb 
and  its  building,  an  occasion  of  which  the  Court  geo- 
mancers  took  full  advantage.  When  T'ung-Chih  reached 
his  majority,  in  1873,  his  first  duty  was  to  escort  the  Em- 
presses Dowager  to  the  Eastern  Mausolea,  where,  with 
much  solemnity,  two  auspicious  sites,  encircled  by  hills  and 
watered  by  streams,  were  selected  and  exorcised  of  all  evil 
influences.  Further  ceremonies  and  mystic  calculations 
were  required  to  determine  the  auspicious  dates  for  the  com- 
mencement of  building  operations;  in  these,  and  the 
adornment  of  the  tomb,  Tzu  Hsi  continued  to  take  the 
keenest  interest  until  the  day  of  her  death.  In  order  to 
secure  scrupulous  regard  for  its  construction  in  accordance 


CONCLUSION  307 

with  the  requirements  of  her  horoscope,  and  to  make  her 
sepulchre  a  fitting  and  all-hallowed  resting-place,  she 
entrusted  its  chief  supervision  to  Jung  Lu,  who  thus  secured 
a  permanent  post  highly  coveted  by  Manchu  officials,  in 
which  huge  "squeezes"  were  a  matter  of  precedent.  The 
geomantic  conditions  of  these  burial-places  gave  unusual 
trouble,  the  tomb  of  the  Empress  Tzu  An  having  eventually 
to  be  shifted  fifteen  feet  two  inches  northwards,  and  four 
feet  seven  and  a  half  inches  westwards,  before  the  spirits  of 
her  ancestors  were  perfectly  satisfied,  while  that  of  Tzu  Hsi 
was  removed  seven  feet  four  inches  to  the  north  and  eight 
inches  to  the  eastward. 

Tzu  Hsi  feared  no  man.  From  the  first  moment  of  her 
power,  secure  in  the  sense  of  divine  right  and  firmly  believ- 
ing in  her  "star,"  she  savoured  her  authority  like  a  rich 
wine.  The  pleasure  she  derived  from  delivering  homilies 
to  the  highest  officials  in  the  Empire  may  be  read  between 
the  lines  of  her  Decrees.  Already  in  1862 — that  is  to  say 
before  she  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age — we  find  her 
solemnly  admonishing  the  Grand  Council  on  their  duties, 
urging  them  to  adopt  stricter  standards  of  conduct,  and  to 
put  a  check  on  their  corrupt  tendencies.  "They  are,  of 
course,  not  debarred  from  seeking  advice  from  persons 
below  them  in  society,  but  let  them  be  careful  to  avoid  any 
attempt  at  forming  cabals  or  attracting  to  themselves  troops 
of  followers."  And  on  another  occasion,  when  she  specially 
invited  the  Censors  to  impeach  Prince  Kung,  she  ob- 
served :  "  In  discussing  the  principles  of  just  government 
you  should  remember  the  precept  of  the  Confucian  school, 
which  is,  'Be  not  weary  in  well-doing  :  strict  rectitude  of 
conduct  is  the  road  royal  to  good  government.  Face  and 
overcome  your  difficulties,  and  thus  eventually  earn  the 
right  to  ease.'  "  Tzu  Hsi  could  turn  out  this  sort  of  thing, 
which  appeals  to  every  Chinese  scholar,  in  good  style  and 
large  quantities.  She  took  pride  in  the  manufacture  of 
maxims  for  the  guidance  of  the  Mandarins,  but  there  was 
always  a  suspicion  that  her  tongue  was  in  her  cheek  while 
she  carefully  penned  these  copybook  platitudes,  just  as  we 
know  there  was  when  she  set  herself  to  display  what  The 


3o8    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

Times  correspondent  at  Peking  called  her  "girlish 
abandon,"  in  order  to  regain  the  affection  of  Mrs.  Conger 
and  the  ladies  of  the  Diplomatic  Body. 

Of  the  Empress  Dowager's  popularity  and  prestige  with 
all  classes  of  her  subjects  there  is  no  doubt.  At  Peking 
especially,  and  throughout  the  metropolitan  province,  she 
was  the  object  of  a  very  general  and  very  sincere  affection ; 
seldom  is  her  name  spoken  except  with  expressions  of 
admiration  and  regard,  very  similar  in  effect  to  the  feelings 
of  the  British  people  for  Her  Majesty  Queen  Victoria. 
Although  her  share  of  responsibility  for  the  Boxer  rising, 
and  for  the  consequent  sufferings  inflicted  on  the  people, 
was  matter  of  common  knowledge,  little  or  no  blame  was 
ever  imputed  to  the  Old  Buddha.  Her  subjects  loved  her 
for  her  very  defects,  for  the  foolhardy  courage  that  had 
staked  the  Empire  on  a  throw.  Amongst  the  lower  classes 
it  was  the  general  opinion  that  she  had  done  her  best,  and 
with  the  best  intentions.  The  scheme  itself  was  magnificent 
— to  drive  the  foreigner  into  the  sea — and  it  appealed  to 
her  people  as  worthy  of  their  ruler  and  of  a  better  fate.  If 
it  had  failed  for  this  time,  it  was  the  will  of  Heaven,  and  no 
doubt  at  some  future  date  success  would  justify  her  wisdom. 
If  they  blamed  her  at  all,  it  was  for  condescending  to 
intimate  relations  with  the  hated  foreigner  after  the  Court's 
return  to  Peking;  but  even  in  this  she  had  the  sympathy 
rather  than  the  censure  of  her  subjects. 

To  the  great  mass  of  her  people,  who  had  never  seen  her, 
but  knew  her  only  by  cumulative  weight  of  common  report, 
the  Old  Buddha  stood  for  the  embodiment  of  courage, 
liberality  and  kindness  of  heart.  If,  as  they  knew,  she  were 
subject  to  fierce  outbursts  of  sudden  rage,  the  fact  did  her 
no  injury  in  the  eyes  of  a  race  which  believes  that  wrath- 
matter  undischarged  is  a  virulent  poison  in  the  system. 
The  simple  Chihli  folk  made  allowance,  not  without  its 
sense  of  humour,  for  their  august  sovereign's  capacity  to 
generate  wrath-matter,  as  for  her  feminine  mutability  : 
to  them  she  was  a  great  ruler  and  a.  bon  enfant.  In  a 
country  where  merciless  officials  and  torture  are  part  of  the 
long-accepted  order  of  things,  no  more  stress  was  laid  on 


CONCLUSION  309 

her  numerous  acts  of  cold-blooded  tyranny  than,  shall  we 
say,  was  laid  on  the  beheading  of  earls  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century  in  England. 

One  of  the  writers  had  the  good  fortune  once  to  see  the 
Empress  when  proceeding  in  her  palanquin  to  the  Eastern 
tombs.  She  had  breakfasted  early  at  the  Tung  Yueh 
Temple  outside  the  Ch'i  Hua  gate,  and  was  on  her  way  to 
T'ung  Chou.  As  her  chair  passed  along  a  line  of  kneeling 
peasantry,  the  curtains  were  open  and  it  was  seen  that  the 
Old  Buddha  was  asleep.  The  good  country-people  were 
delighted.  "Look,"  they  cried,  "the  Old  Buddha  is  sleep- 
ing. Really,  she  has  far  too  much  work  to  do  I  A  rare 
woman — what  a  pleasure  to  see  her  thus  I  " 

Tzu  Hsi  was  recognised  to  be  above  criticism  and  above 
the  laws  which  she  rigorously  enforced  on  others.  For 
instance,  when,  a  few  weeks  after  the  issue  of  a  Decree  pro- 
hibiting corporal  punishment  and  torture  in  prisons,  she 
caused  the  Reformer  Shen  Chin  to  be  flogged  to  death 
(July  1904),  public  opinion  saw  nothing  extraordinary  in 
the  event.  A  few  days  later,  when  preparations  were  being 
made  for  the  celebration  of  her  seventieth  birthday,  she 
issued  another  Decree,  declining  the  honorific  title  dutifully 
proffered  by  the  Emperor,  together  with  its  emoluments,  on 
the  ground  that  she  had  no  heart  for  festivities,  "being  pro- 
foundly distressed  at  the  thought  of  the  sufferings  of  my 
subjects  in  Manchuria,  owing  to  the  destruction  wrought 
there  by  the  Russian  and  Japanese  armies.  My  one 
desire,"  she  added,  "is  that  my  officials  may  co-operate 
to  introduce  more  humane  methods  of  Government,  so  that 
my  people  may  live  to  enjoy  good  old  age,  resting  on 
couches  of  comfortable  ease.  This  is  the  best  way  to 
honour  the  seventieth  anniversary  of  my  birth."  No  doubt 
the  shade  of  Shen  Chin  was  duly  appeased. 

Of  her  vindictive  ferocity  on  occasions  there  can  be  no 
question.  As  Ching  Shan  admits,  even  her  most  faithful 
admirers  and  servants  were  aware  that  at  moments  of  her 
wrath  it  was  prudent  to  be  out  of  her  reach,  or,  if  unavoid- 
ably present,  to  abstain  from  thwarting  her.  They  knew 
that  those  who  dared  to  question  her  absolute  authority,  or 


310    CHINA   UNDER  THE   EMPRESS   DOWAGER 

to  criticise  the  means  by  which  she  gained  and  retained  it, 
need  look  for  no  mercy.  But  they  knew  also  that  for  faith- 
ful service  and  loyalty  she  had  a  royal  memory  and,  like 
Catherine  of  Russia,  she  never  forgot  her  friends. 

Her  unpopularity  in  central  and  southern  China,  which 
became  marked  after  the  war  with  Japan  and  violent  at  the 
time  of  the  coup  d'etat,  was  in  its  origin  anti-dynastic  and 
political.  It  was  particularly  strong  in  Kuang-tung,  where 
for  years  Her  Majesty  was  denounced  by  agitators  as  a 
monster  of  unparalleled  depravity.  The  political  opinions 
of  the  turbulent  and  quick-witted  Cantonese  have  generally 
been  expressed  in  a  lively  and  somewhat  ribald  form,  and 
when  we  bear  in  mind  the  popular  tendency  (not  confined  to 
the  Far  East)  of  ascribing  gross  immorality  to  crowned 
heads,  we  are  justified  in  refusing  to  attach  undue  im- 
portance to  the  wild  accusations  levelled  against  the 
Empress  Dowager  in  this  quarter.  The  utterances  of  the 
hotspurs  and  lampooners  of  Southern  China  are  chiefly 
interesting  in  that  they  reveal  something  of  the  vast  possi- 
bilities of  cleavage  inherent  in  the  Chinese  Government 
system,  and  prove  the  Manchu  rule  to  have  fallen  into  some- 
thing like  contempt  in  that  region  where  the  new  forces  of 
education  and  political  activity  are  most  conspicuous. 

These,  however,  are  but  local  manifestations,  and  they 
lost  much  of  their  inspiration  after  the  coup  d'etat.  The 
anti-dynastic  tendencies  noticeable  in  the  vernacular  Press 
of  Shanghai,  many  of  which  assumed  the  form  of  personal 
hostility  to  the  Empress,  were  also  little  more  than  the  local 
result  of  Young  China's  vague  aspirations  and  desire  for 
change,  and  reflected  little  weight  of  serious  opinion.  The 
official  class  and  the  literati  as  a  whole  were  loyal  to  Her 
Majesty  and  regarded  her  with  respect.  They  did  not  fail 
to  express  admiration  of  her  wisdom  and  statecraft,  which 
kept  the  Empire  together  under  circumstances  of  great 
difficulty.  To  her  selection  and  support  of  Tseng  Kuo- 
fan  they  generally  attributed  China's  recovery  from  the 
disasters  of  the  Taiping  rebellion,  and  to  her  sagacity  in 
1898  they  ascribed  the  country's  escape  from  dangers  of 
sudden  revolution.    They  admitted  that  had  it  not  been  for 


CONCLUSION  311 

her  masterly  handling  of  the  Tsai  Yiian  conspiracy 
(1860-61),  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  Dynasty  could  have 
held  together  for  a  decade,  and  they  realised,  when  her 
strong  hand  no  longer  grasped  the  helm,  that  the  ship  of 
State  was  likely  to  drift  into  dangerous  waters. 

The  everyday  routine  of  Tzu  Hsi's  life  has  been  well 
described  in  Miss  Carl's  accurate  and  picturesque  account 
of  the  palace  ceremonial  and  amusements,^  the  first  authori- 
tative picture  of  la  vie  intime  of  the  Chinese  Court.  Apart 
from  a  keen  natural  aptitude  for  State  affairs  (similar  to  that 
of  Queen  Victoria,  whom  she  greatly  admired  from  afar), 
Tzu  Hsi  maintained  to  the  end  of  her  days  a  lively  interest 
in  literature  and  art,  together  with  a  healthy  and  catholic 
appetite  for  amusement.  She  had  an  inveterate  love  for  the 
theatre,  for  masques  and  pageants,  which  she  indulged  at 
all  times  and  places,  taking  a  professional  interest  in  the 
players  and  giving  much  advice  about  the  performances, 
which  she  selected  daily  from  a  list  submitted  to  her.  It 
was  a  matter  of  comment,  and  some  hostile  criticism  by 
Censors,  that  even  during  the  sojourn  of  the  Court  in  the 
provincial  wilderness  at  Hsi-an,  she  summoned  actors  to 
follow  the  Court  and  perform  as  usual. 

Her  private  life  had,  no  doubt,  its  phases.  Of  its  details 
we  know  but  little  prior  to  the  period  of  the  restoration  of 
the  Summer  Palace  in  the  early  'nineties.  In  middle  age, 
however,  when  she  had  assimilated  the  philosophy  and 
practice  of  the  "  happy  mean,"  her  tastes  became  simple  and 
her  habits  regular.  She  was  passionately  fond  of  the 
Summer  Palace,  of  its  gardens  and  the  lake  amongst  the 
hills,  and  towards  the  end  of  her  life  went  as  seldom  as 
possible  into  the  city.  She  loved  the  freedom  of  the  I-ho 
Yiian,  its  absence  of  formal  etiquette,  her  water-picnics  and 
the  familiar  intercourse  of  her  favourite  ladies,  with  whom 
she  would  discuss  the  day's  news  and  the  gossip  of  the 
Imperial  Clans.  With  these,  especially  with  the  wife  of 
Jung  Lu  and  the  Princess  Imperial,  she  would  talk  end- 
lessly of  old  times  and  make  plans  for  the  future. 

*   IVM  the  Empress  Dowager  of  China.     Eveleigh  Nash,  1906. 


312    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

Her  love  of  literature  and  profound  knowledge  of  history- 
did  much  to  win  for  her  the  respect  of  the  Mandarin  class, 
with  whom  the  classics  are  a  religion.  In  her  reading  she 
was,  however,  broad-minded,  not  to  say  omnivorous;  it 
was  her  custom  to  spend  a  certain  time  daily  in  having 
ancient  and  modern  authors  read  aloud  by  eunuchs  spe- 
cially trained  in  elocution.  She  believed  thoroughly  in 
education,  though  realising  clearly  the  danger  of  putting 
new  wine  into  old  skins  ;  and  she  perceived  towards  the 
end  of  her  life  that  the  rapidly  changing  conditions  of  the 
Empire  had  rendered  the  wisdom  of  China's  Sages  of  little 
practical  value  as  a  basis  of  administration.  Her  clearness 
of  perception  on  this  point,  contrasted  with  her  action  in 
1898,  is  indeed  remarkable,  but  it  should  be  remembered 
that  much  of  her  opposition  to  the  Emperor's  policy  of 
Reform  was  the  result  of  personal  pique  and  outraged 
dignity,  as  in  the  case  of  her  decision  to  become  a  Boxer 
leader  in  1900. 

Frequent  reference  has  been  made  in  previous  chapters 
to  the  extravagance  and  licentious  display  of  Tzu  Hsi's 
Court  during  the  years  of  the  first  Regency.  The  remon- 
strances of  the  Censors  on  the  subject  were  so  numer- 
ous and  outspoken,  so  circumstantial  in  their  charges, 
as  to  leave  little  room  for  doubt  that  the  Empress  deserved 
their  indignant  condemnation.  All  the  records  of  that 
period,  and  particularly  from  1862  to  1869,  point  to  the  evil 
and  steadily  increasing  influence  of  the  eunuchs,  whose  cor- 
ruption and  encouragement  of  lavish  expenditure  resulted 
in  continual  demands  on  the  provincial  exchequers.  But 
even  at  the  height  of  what  may  fairly  be  called  her  riotous 
living,  Tzu  Hsi  always  had  the  good  grace  to  concur 
publicly  in  the  virtuous  suggestions  of  her  monitors,  and 
to  conciliate  public  opinion  by  professions  of  a  strong 
desire  for  economy.  She  would  have  her  Imperial  way, 
her  splendid  pageants  and  garnered  wealth  of  tribute,  but 
the  Censors  should  have  their  "face."  On  the  occasion  of 
the  Emperor  T'ung-Chih's  wedding  in  1869,  when  the 
Grand  Council  had  solemnly  deprecated  any  increase  in  her 
palace  expenditure  because  of  the  impoverished  state  of  the 


CONCLUSION  313 

people  brought  about  by  the  Taiping  Rebellion,  she  issued 
a  Decree  stating  that  "so  great  was  her  perturbation  of 
mind  at  the  prevalent  sufferings  of  her  people,  that  she 
grudged  even  the  money  spent  on  the  inferior  raiment  she 
was  wearing,  and  the  humble  fare  that  was  served  at  her 
palace  table."  She  was,  in  fact,  as  lavish  of  good 
principles  as  of  the  public  funds.  But  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  a  large  proportion  of  the  vast  sums  spent  on  her 
palaces,  on  the  building  of  her  tomb,  and  on  her  Court  fes- 
tivities, represents  the  "squeezes'*  of  officials  and  eunuchs, 
which,  however  solemnly  the  Grand  Council  might  de- 
nounce extravagance,  are  in  practice  universally  recognised 
as  inseparable  from  the  Celestial  system  of  government. 
Tzu  Hsi  was  fully  aware  that  much  of  the  enormous  ex- 
penditure charged  to  her  Privy  Purse  went  in  "squeeze," 
but  she  good-humouredly  acquiesced  in  a  custom  as  deeply 
ingrained  in  the  Chinese  as  ancestral  worship,  and  from 
which  she  herself  derived  no  small  profit.  At  her  re- 
ceptions to  the  ladies  of  the  Diplomatic  Body  she  would 
frequently  enquire  as  to  the  market  prices  of  household 
commodities,  in  order,  as  she  cheerfully  explained,  to  be 
able  to  show  her  chief  eunuch  that  she  was  aware  of  his 
monstrous  overcharges. 

Combined,  however,  with  her  love  of  sumptuous  display 
and  occasional  fits  of  Imperial  munificence,  Tzu  Hsi  pos- 
sessed a  certain  housewifely  instinct  of  thrift  which,  with 
advancing  age,  verged  on  parsimony.  The  Privy  Purse  of 
China's  ruler  is  not  dependent  upon  any  well-defined  civil 
list,  but  rather  upon  the  exigences  of  the  day,  upon  the 
harvests  and  trade  of  the  Empire,  whence,  through  percent- 
ages of  "squeezes"  levied  by  the  provincial  authorities, 
come  the  funds  required  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
Court. ^  The  uncertainty  of  these  remittances  partly 
explains  the  Empress  Dowager's  hoarding  tendencies,  that 
squirrel  instinct  which  impelled  her  to  bury  large  sums 
in  the  vaults  of  the  palace  and  to  accumulate  a  vast  store 

^  Since  the  days  of  the  Emperor  Ch'ien-Lung,  these  expenses  averaged 
some  forty  millions  of  taels  per  annum.  Vide  The  Times^  special 
article,  7th  December,  1909. 


314    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

of  silks,  medicines,  clocks,  and  all  manner  of  valuables  in 
the  Forbidden  City.  At  the  time  of  her  death  her  private 
fortune,  including  a  large  number  of  gold  Buddhas  and 
sacrificial  vessels  stored  in  the  palace  vaults,  was  estimated 
by  a  high  official  of  the  Court  at  about  sixteen  millions 
sterling.  The  estimate  is  necessarily  a  loose  one,  being 
Chinese,  but  it  was  known  with  tolerable  certainty  that  the 
hoard  of  gold  ^  buried  in  the  Ning-Shou  Palace  at  the  time 
of  the  Court's  flight  in  1900,  amounted  to  sixty  millions  of 
taels  (say,  eight  millions  sterling),  and  the  "tribute"  paid 
by  the  provinces  to  the  Court  at  T'ai-yiian  and  Hsi-an 
would  amount  to  as  much  more. 

Tsii  Hsi  was  proud  of  her  personal  appearance,  and 
justly  so,  for  she  retained  until  advanced  old  age  a  clear  com- 
plexion and  youthful  features.  [To  an  artist  who  painted 
her  portrait  not  long  before  her  death  she  expressed  a  wish 
that  her  wrinkles  should  be  left  out.]  By  no  means  free 
from  feminine  vanity,  she  devoted  a  considerable  amount  of 
time  each  day  to  her  toilet,  and  was  particularly  careful 
about  the  dressing  of  her  hair.  At  the  supreme  moment  of 
the  Court's  flight  from  the  palace,  in  1900,  she  was  heard  to 
complain  bitterly  at  being  compelled  to  adopt  the  Chinese 
fashion  of  head-dress. 

Her  good  health  and  vitality  were  always  extraordinary. 
She  herself  attributed  them  chiefly  to  early  rising,  regular 
habits,  and  the  frequent  consumption  of  milk,  which  she 
usually  took  curdled  in  the  form  of  a  kind  of  rennet.  She 
ate  frugally  but  well,  being  an  epicure  at  heart  and  delight- 
ing in  dainty  and  recherche  menus.  Opium,  like  other 
luxuries,  she  took  in  strict  moderation,  but  greatly  enjoyed 
her  pipe  after  the  business  of  the  day  was  done.  It  was  her 
practice  then  to  rest  for  an  hour,  smoking  at  intervals,  a 
siesta  which  the  Court  knew  better  than  to  disturb.  She 
fully  realised  the  evils  wrought  by  abuse  of  the  insidious 
drug,  and  approved  of  the  laws,  introduced  by  the  initiative 
of  T'ang  Shao-yi  and  other  high  officials,  for  its  abolition. 
But  her  fellow-feeling  for  those  who,  like  herself,  could  use 

^  The  nucleus  of  this  hoard  was  the  money  confiscated  from  the 
usurping  Regent  Su  Shun  In  1861. 


CONCLUSION  315 

it  in  moderation,  and  her  experience  of  its  soothing  and 
stimulating  effect  on  the  mind,  led  her  to  insist  that  the 
Abolition  Decree  (November  22nd,  1906)  should  not  deprive 
persons  over  sixty  years  of  age  of  their  accustomed  solace. 
She  was,  in  fact,  willing  to  decree  prohibition  for  the 
masses,  but  lenient  to  herself  and  to  those  who  had  suffi- 
ciently proved  their  capacity  to  follow  the  path  of  the 
happy  mean. 

Such  was  Tzu  Hsi,  a  woman  whose  wonderful  person- 
ality and  career  cannot  fail  to  secure  for  her  a  place  amongst 
the  rulers  who  have  become  the  standards  and  pivots  of 
greatness  in  the  world*s  history.  The  marvellous  success 
of  her  career  and  the  passionate  devotion  of  her  partisans 
are  not  to  be  easily  explained  by  any  ordinary  process  of 
analysis  or  comparison  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  they 
were  chiefly  due  to  that  mysterious  and  indefinable  quality 
which  is  called  "charm,"  a  quality  apparently  independent 
alike  of  morals,  ethics,  education,  and  what  we  call  civilisa- 
tion ;  universal  in  its  appeal,  irresistible  in  its  effect  upon 
the  great  majority  of  mankind.  It  was  this  personal  charm 
of  the  woman,  combined  with  her  intense  vitality  and  acces- 
sibility, that  won  for  her  respect,  and  often  affection,  even 
from  those  who  had  good  reason  to  deplore  her  methods 
and  deny  her  principles.  This  personal  charm,  this  subtle 
and  magnetic  emanation,  was  undoubtedly  the  secret  of 
that  stupendous  power  with  which,  for  good  or  evil,  she 
ruled  for  half  a  century  a  third  of  the  population  of  the 
earth  ;  that  charm  it  was  that  won  to  her  side  the  bravest 
and  best  of  China's  picked  men,  and  it  is  the  lingering 
memory  and  tradition  of  that  charm  which  already  invest 
the  name  of  the  Old  Buddha  with  attributes  of  legendary 
virtue  and  superhuman  wisdom. 

Europeans,  studying  the  many  complex  and  unexpected 
phases  of  her  extraordinary  personality  from  the  point  of 
view  of  western  moralities,  have  usually  emphasised  and 
denounced  her  cold-blooded  ferocity  and  homicidal  rage. 
Without  denying  the  facts,  or  extenuating  her  guilt,  it 
must,  nevertheless,  be  admitted  that  it  would  be  unjust  to 


3i6    CHINA  UNDER  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 

expect  from  her  compliance  with  standards  of  morals  and 
conduct  of  which  she  was  perforce  ignorant ;  and  that, 
judged  by  the  standards  of  her  own  predecessors  and  con- 
temporaries, and  by  the  verdict  of  her  subjects,  she  is  not 
to  be  reckoned  a  wicked  woman.  Let  it  be  remembered 
also  that  within  comparatively  recent  periods  of  British 
history,  death  was  dealt  out  with  no  niggard  or  gentle  hand 
to  further  the  alleged  interests  of  the  State;  men  were 
hanged,  drawn  and  quartered  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  and 
Mary  Stuart,  gentle  ladies  both,  and  averse  to  the  spilling  of 
blood,  for  the  greater  glory  of  Thrones,  and  in  the  defence 
of  the  Christian  religion. 

Tzu  Hsi  died  as  she  had  lived,  keen  to  the  last,  impatient 
of  the  bonds  of  sickness  that  kept  her  from  the  new  day's 
work,  hopeful  ever  for  the  future.  Unto  the  last  her 
thoughts  were  of  the  Empire,  of  that  new  plan  of  Consti- 
tutional Government  wherein  she  had  come  to  see  visions 
of  a  new  and  glorious  era  for  China  and  for  herself.  And 
when  the  end  came,  she  faced  it,  as  she  had  faced  life,  with 
a  stout  heart  and  brave  words,  going  out  to  meet  the 
Unknown  as  if  she  were  but  starting  for  a  summer  picnic. 
Reluctantly  she  bade  farewell  to  the  world  of  men,  to  the 
life  she  had  lived  with  so  keen  a  zest  ;  but,  unlike  England's 
Tudor  Queen,  she  bowed  gracefully  to  the  inevitable, 
leaving  the  scene  with  steadfast  and  Imperial  dignity, 
confident  in  her  high  destinies  to  come. 


«•  «■  e  •  c. 

c  c  c  «  •  • 

c  c  c  c  c 

c''»c        "cccc 


J 


INDEX 


Actors,  Palace,  56 

Admiralty,  vide  Navy. 

Adviser  to  the  Government,  vide  Prince 
Kung,  also  Prince  Ch'un. 

Adviser  to  the  Regency,  vide  Prince 
Ch'un. 

Aisin  Gioros,  vide  "  Imperial  Clans- 
men." 

A-Lu-Te,  Empress  (Chia  Shun),  75-8, 
80-3,  suicide  of,  85 

Ancestor  worship,  5,  78,  101-2,  288-9 

Ancestral  tablet,  295-6 

An  Te-hai  (chief  eunuch),  33,  55,  57-9  ; 
arrest  and  execution,  59,  60 

An  Wei-ch'un  (censor),  1 16-17 

Army,  138,  163;  law  re  women  in 
camp,  305 

Astrologers  and  Astronomers,  30,  74 

Audiences,  Procedure  at,  vide  Cere- 
monies. 

**  Benign  Countenance,"  42 

Berlin,  Mission  to,  238-41 

Big  Sword  Society,  169 

Birthday  celebrations,  112-14,  281 

Black  List  (1900),  52 

Board  of  Regents,  33 

Board  of  Rites,  128-30 

Boxer  Movement,  17 1-8  ;  burning 
of  foreign  quarters  at  Peking,  176- 
7;  some  causes,  114,  244-6;  execu- 
tion of  Boxer  chiefs,  195  ;  lesson  of, 
261  ;  Li  Lien-ying's  influence  on, 
67-8 ;  mystic  evolutions  and  magic 
rites,  172,  175,  192  ;  protection  for 
foreigners,  176,  178,  185  ;  Tzu  Hsi's 
attitude  towards,  181,  186-7,  231, 
259  ;  victims,  185,  192-4,  198,  207 

British  Minister,  148-9,  156 

Brooks,  Rev,,  169  noie 

Bruce,  Sir  F.,  22 

Burial  Ceremonies,  vide  Ceremonies. 

Caligraphy,  Edict  re^  131 

Carl,  Miss,  311 

Censorale,  31,  78 ;  protest  against 
selection  of  Heir,  85  ;  remonstrance 
to  Tzu  Hsi,  106,  III,  312  ;  attack  on 
Li  Hung-chang,  116;  on  Education 
reform,  128-9 


Ceremonies,  audiences,  46,  80,  120, 
146,  168,  225 ;  before  ancestral 
tablet,  295-6 ;  burial,  14,  15,  17, 
92 ;  Dalai  Lama,  special  ceremony, 
281-2 ;  death  and  funeral,  34-7, 
48-9,  III,  287,  292-93;  sacrifice  to 
tutelary  deities,  23  ;  visit  of  Tzii  Hsi 
to  parents,  9,  10 

Chang  Chih-tung,  151;  character,  191; 
abolition  of  examination  system,  265 

Chang  Te-ch'eng,  193 

Chang  Yin-huan,  125,  137  ;  imprison- 
ment, 151  note;  banishment,  156 

Chao,  Duke,  6 

Chao  Shu-ch'iao,  182,  209 

Cheng,  Prince,  vide  Tuan  Hua. 

Ch'en  Pao-chen,  123,  132 

Ch'en  Tu-en,  41 

Chia  Shun,  Empress,  vide  A-Lu-Te. 

Chia  To,  56 

Chia  Yi  (quoted),  201-2 

Ch'ien  Lung,  Emperor,  lOl 

Ch'i  Hsiu,  178,  180 

China,  location  of  new  capital  of,  dis- 
cussed, 246-7 

Ch'ing,  Prince,  171,284;  attitude  to- 
wards Boxers,  178,  184;  peace  nego- 
tiations, 219,  239,  249 ;  reception  of 
Tzu  Hsi  at  Peking,  251-2  ;  as  custo- 
dian of  mausolea,  283  and  note 

Ching  Hsin,  i66 

Ching  Shan,  166-7  ;  extracts  from 
diary,  167-216  ;  death,  214 

Ching  Yiian-shan,  150 

Chi  Shou-ch'ing,  169 

Chiu  Min,  58  note 

Ch'i  Ying,  11-12 

Chou  Dynasty,  16  ;  and  eunuch  system, 
52 

Chou  Tsu-p'ei,  36 

Christianity,  converts  assured  protec- 
tion, 246 

Christians,  massacre  of,  194 

Chuang,  Prince,  Commander-in-Chief 
of  Boxers,  183  ;  massacre  of  Chris- 
tians, 194  ;  in  disgrace,  195 

Ch'un,  House  of,  4 

Ch'un,  Prince  (Regent),  4,  79,  278  ;  in- 
fant son  nominated  Heir,  81-2,  272; 


317 


3i8 


INDEX 


Adviser  to  the  Empresses  Regent, 
86  ;  mission  to  Berlin,  238-41 ;  ap- 
pointed Regent,  289-91 

Chun,  Prince  (the  fir^t),  4,  5,  274; 
head  of  Admiralty  Board,  65;  Ad- 
viser to  Grand  Council,  106,  107; 
illness  and  death,  iii;  luneral  cere- 
monies, 112 

Ch'ung  Ch'i,  245 

Clan  Imperial,  vide  Imperial  Clansmen. 

Classical  Essays,  125,  161 

"  Cobbler's  Wax  "  Li,  vide  Li  Lienyin. 

"  Cold  Palace,"  28 

Colleges,  132 

Confucius,  53,  200,  305,  307 

Conservative  Party,  128  et  seq. 

Conspiracy  of  Regents,  vide  Tsai  Yuan. 

Corea,  115,  116 

Council,  Grand,  vide  Grand  Council. 

Court  Ceremonies,  vide  Ceremonies. 

Court  in  exile,  224-232;  return  to 
Peking,  242-57 

Court  physicians,  277,  284 

Dalai  Lama,  visit  to  Peking,  275,  279, 
281-2  ;  miraculous  image,  282-3 

Decrees:  (1860-65),  21-5,  43,  49 
56-7.  305  ;  ^<f  Army  reform,  135 
163;  re  Boxers,  235;  cancels  Boxer 
edicts,  235;  constitutional  govern 
mcnt,  267-8 ;  conversion  to  Reform 
262-3 ;  classical  examination  system 
161,  265;  re  Censor  An  Wei-chun 
I16-117  ;  re  Chinese  and  Manchus 
263-4;  dismissal  of  Prince  Kung 
47;  re  execution  of  all  foreigners, 
199  ;  expiatory,  245 ;  Foreign  Min 
isters'  audiences,  250  ;  re  Heir  Ap 
parent,  214-15;  re  Imperial  Succes 
sion,  288,  289;  r<f  Jung  Lu,  249,  270- 
i;  re  Kang  Yu-wei,  139,  165;  re 
Kuang  Hsii's  illness,  149;  Kuang 
Hsti's  valedictory,  286,  287 ;  re  law- 
iuits,  162,  266 ;  re  Opium  traffic,  265 ; 
re  Pearl  concubine,  253 ;  peniten- 
tial, 235-6,  245,  257;  position  of 
Emperor's  father,  106-8 ;  te  P'u  Yi, 
288-9;  Reform  Edicts,  128-35;  Re- 
gency, 290;  return  to  Peking,  231; 
Tung  Chih's  majority,  74;  Tung 
Chih's  illness,  77  ;  Tzu  Hsi's  sixtieth 
birthday,  1 13-14;  Tzu  Hsi's  policy, 
158  ;  Tzu  Hsi's  valedictory,  293 

Diplomatic  Body,  167,  178-9,  181,  183 

Du  Chay^*!^,  181 

Edicts,  viae  Decrees. 
Educational  Reform,  264-5,  283 
Elephant,  Tzu  Hsi's,  281 


Elgin,  Lord,  ii,  21-2 

Empress  Consort  (Tzu  An),  vide'Yziy  An. 

Empress  Dowager,  vide  Tzu  Hsi  and 
Yehonala. 

Empress  Dowager,  widow  of  Kuang 
Hsu  (LungYu),  4,  118,  144,  253, 
275,  290-1 

Empress  Grand  Dowager,z//(3fe  TzU  Hsi. 

Empress  of  the  East,  vide  Tzu  An. 

Empress  of  the  West,  vide  Tzu  Hsi. 

En  Hai,  184,  215-16 

En  Ming,  En  Ch'u,  En  Ch'un,  En  Lin, 
sons  of  Ching  Shan,  167-216 

Etiquette,  vide  Ceremonies. 

Eunuch  system,  51-2,  54  note  \  influ- 
ence of,  on  Ming  Dynasty,  292 ; 
power  of,  53,  234  ;  present  position, 
73  ;  regulations  for,  53 

Examination  system,  caligraphy,  131  ; 
reform  of,  128-9  J  reforms  abo- 
lished, 160-1 

Flight  Ox  Court  to  Jehol,   23-5 ;  from 

Peking,  209-13,  217-24 
Foot-binding,  Edict  re,  264 
French  Cathedral,   Peking,    177,  189, 

200 

Gazettes,  official,  131,  139 

German  Emperor,  reception  of  Prince 

Chun,  239-40 
German  Minister,  vide  Ketteler,  Baron 

von. 
Gordon,  General,  10 
Government    Gazette,   vide    Gazettes, 

official. 
Grand   Council,  24,  80-2,   84,   14 1-2, 

179,  284  ;  admonished  by  Tzfx  Hsi, 

307  ;   appointment  of  adviser,    106- 

8  ;  dismissal  of,  105 
Gros,  Baron,  22-5 

Han  Dynasty,  41,  172 

Han  Yi-li,  193 

Heir  Apparent  (Ta-a-Ko,  Heng  Chin), 
170?  193-4;  appointment  of,  195: 
description,  233-4,  236 ;  deposed, 
237  ;  at  Hsi-an-fu,  229  ;  stories  of, 
201,  225 

Heng-Ching,  vide  Heir  Apparent. 

Ho  Shen,  38 

Hsi-an-fu,  Court  at,  228-30 

Hsien-Feng  (Emperor),  2,  8  ;  burial, 
33,  48-9  ;  character,  ii  ;  confirma- 
tion of  Peace  Treaty,  25  ;  death,  30, 
33  ;  at  Jehol,  18  ;  nuptial  edict,  8  ; 
tomb,  49 

Hsiian  T'ung  (P'u  Yi,  Child  Emperor), 
4,  5  ;  nominated  Heir,  285-6,  288-9 


INDEX 


319 


Hstt  Chih-cheng,  205-6 

HsU  Chi-ching,  151  note 

HsU  Shih-ch'anc:,  6 

HsU  T'ung,    1 2 1-2,   177,    183  ;  peace 

negotiations,  245  ;  suicide,  213 
HsU  Ying-K'uei,    128-30,    141,    159  ; 

plot  against,   137 
Hsu  Yung-yi,  207-8 
Huai  Ta-pu,  130,  137,  141 
Hui  Chang,  157 

Hui  Cheng  (Tzfi  Hsi's  father),  1-3 
Hundred  Days'  Reform,  128-35 

I-Ho  Yuan,  vide  Summer  Palace. 
Imperial  Clansmen,  3-5,  301  ;  Grand 

Council  Meeting,  181  ;  influence  of, 

274 ;    opposition    to   reforms,    268 ; 

and  question  of  succession,  78 ;  and 

Txu  Hsi,  46,  146,  268 
Imperial  concubines,  8-9 
Imperial   Succession,    vide   Succession 

Imperial. 
Iron-capped  princes,  2,  5 

Jade  Emperor,  172  and  note ;  Duke 
Lan's  vision,  184 

James,  Professor,  185 

Japan,  war  with,  113-14  ;  cause  oi 
disasters,  66  ;  Peace  Treaty,  117 

Jehol,  Court  at,  25  et seq. 

judicial  Reforms,  262 

Jung  Lu,  an  appreciation  or,  152-3; 
and  Eunuch  An  Te-hai,  55 ;  and 
Legations  178,  185,  193,  196,  199- 
203  ;  and  Li  Lien  Ying,  71  ;  and 
plot  against  Tzu  Hsi,  134  ;  and 
Reformers,  125,  151  ;  and  Tsai 
Yuan  Conspiracy,  34-5  ;  and  Ts'en 
Ch'un-hsUan,  69 ;  and  Weng  T'ung- 
ho,  122  ;  assists  at  choice  of  heir  to 
throne,  80;  as  statesman,  152-3  ;  at 
death-bed  of  T'ung  Chih,  77  ;  at  T'ai 
Yuan  fu,  226 ;  commander-in-chief, 
152;  death,  270;  his  corrupt 
practices,  226-7  ;  his  daughter,  119  ; 
his  wife,  187  note  ;  illness  of,  254  ; 
in  disgrace,  102-3  >  intimacy  with 
Yehonala,  7-28  ;  military  reforms, 
132  ;  opposes  Boxers,  152,  171-2  ; 
180-2,  189-91,  197,  221  ;  plot 
against,  137,  140;  restored,  113,  249  ; 
telegram  to  Yangtsze  Viceroys,  189- 
91  ;  Tzu  Hsi's  adviser,  200-1,  208- 
9,  255 ;  viceroy  of  Chih-li,  26 ; 
withholds  artillery  from  Boxers, 
196-8 

"Ju-yi"jade,  57 

K'ang  Hsi,  Emperor,  33,  98 


Kang  Yi,  119  and  note  ;  Boxer  move- 
ment, 131,  163,  177  ;  and  HsU  T'ung, 
122-4  ;  death,  228  ;  influence  over 
TzU   Hsi,    163,    209;    plot   against, 

137 
K'ang  Yu-wei,   2,  7,    124  ;  denounced 
by  HsU  Ying-k'uei,  129  ;  flight  from 
Peking,    1 38-9,    148 ;    plot    against 
TzU  Hsi,  126-7,  131,  137,  155 
Kansuh  soldiery,  176,  185,  187,  194 
Kao,  Taoist  abbot,  275 
Ketteler,  Baron  von,  184,  200 
Kuang-Hsu,  Emperor(Tsai  Tien),  82-7, 
loo-ioi  ;   and    Prince    Tuan,    226 ; 
arrest  of,    142-3 ;    assumes   govern- 
ment, 109  et  seq. ;  at  audience,  168-9 ; 
advice   on    question    of    war,    182  ; 
British    intervention    on   behalf  of, 
148-9  ;  deposition  of,  167-9 ;  flight 
from    Peking,    209-13  ;    his    concu- 
bines,     III;     his     consort,     1 10 ; 
Hundred    Days'    Reform,    128-35; 
illness  and  death,  272,  276-7,  286-7; 
and  Li  Lienying,  67,  227,  271  ;  party 
in  support  of,   156,  159  ;  prison  life 
of,  146  et  seq.  ;  question  of  validity 
of  succession,  88 ;  return  to  Peking, 

251 

Kuang  Shun,  166  note 

Kuei  Ching,  76-7 

Kuei  Hsiang,  Duke,  6 

Kuei  Jen,  8 

Kuei  Liang,  21,  36 

Kuei  Pao,  76 

Kung,  Duke,  231 

Kung,  Prince  (candidate  lor  Throne),  79 

Kung,  Prince  (son  of  Tao-Kuang),  4. 
loi,  119,  124;  adviser  to  Govern- 
ment, 45  ;  and  An-Te-hai,  58-60, 
61,  79 ;  assists  Yehonala  against 
Tsai  Yuan,  30  et  seq.  ;  at  nomination 
of  Heir  to  Throne,  79,  80-82  ; 
death  of,  123  ;  degraded,  47,  105- 
6  ;  his  daughter,  Princess  Imperial, 
45-6  ;  plenipotentiary,  18,  20-1,  25  ; 
reinstated,  48,  49-50,  106 

K'un  Hsiu,  173 

Lan,  Duke,  vide  Tsai  I>an. 

Li,  Prince,  106,  119,  188-9 

Liang  Ch'i-ch'ao,  132,  155 

Liang  Hai-lou,  19 

Liao  Shou-heng,  119-24 

Lien  Yuan,  207-8 

Li  Hung-chang,  65  ;  Boxer  Movement, 
239,  242-4 ;  death,  249 ;  and 
Japanese  War,  66,  114,  116;  post- 
humous honours,  249  ;  Yellow 
River  repairs,  162 


320 


INDEX 


Li  Hung-tsao,  121 

Li  Lien-ying  (chief  eunuch),  51-2,  62, 
251;  and  Dalai  Lama,  275;  and 
Heir  Apparent,  233  ;  and  Jung  Lu, 
227  ;  and  Kuang  Hsii,  67,  120,  143; 
at  Zoological  Gardens,  280-1  ; 
Boxer  Movement,  52,  67,  173,  177; 
character,  63;  control  of  Govern- 
ment finance,  65-6;  fortune  of,  64; 
illegal  practices,  64;  in  disgrace, 
68-9;  influence  over  Tzu  Hsi,  72; 
restoration  to  favour,  70,  73 

Lin-Hsu,  137,  139 

Li  Ping-heng,  198,  204-6;  suicide,  208 

Li  Shan,  207-8 

Li  Tuan-fen,  137 

Liu,  General,  208 

Liu  Kuang- ti,  137 

Liu  K'un-yi  (viceroy),  151,  159;  Boxer 
movement,  187-9 

Lii,  Empress,  41 

Lu  Hai-huan,  239 

Lung  Yii,  vide  Empress  Dowager,  widow 
of  Kuang  Hsii. 

"Lustrous"  (concubine),  iii,  280 

Macdonald,  Sir  Claude,  148 

Manchus :  dangers  to  dynasty,  263 ; 
clansmen,  i,  4;  eunuch  system,  53- 
4,  264;  house  law,  96-7,  272  and 
ftote,  292;  rule  in  China,  i,  181-2; 
310 

Manchus  versus  Chinese,  122  et  seq.^ 

143:  150,  156-7 
Massacre  of  Chinese  Christians,  194 
Ma  Yu-K'un,  General,  213,  220 
Memorials — 

An-Wei-chun,  116 

Censorate,  iii,  215-16 

Hsu  Ying-ku'ei,  128-9 

Hui  Chang  157 

Jung  Lu,  200-1 

Li  Hung-chang,  243 

Prince  Chun,  86,  239-40 

re  Eunuchs,  56,  59-60 

Southern  Viceroys,  190-1 

Wu  K'o-tu,  90-4,  95-8 

Ytian  Ch'ang  and  HsU  Ching-ch'eng, 
194,  204 

Yii  Lu,  Viceroy,  200 
Militia  train-bands,  163 
Ming    Dynasty,    i,    96 ;    and   Eunuch 

system,  51,  292 
Muyanga,  2,  8 
Mu  Yin,  22 

Na,  Prince,  213 
Na,  Tung,  178 
Navy,  65-6 


Ninhulu,  6 

North    and     South    factions,     120-3 

188-9 
Nurhachi,  i,  264 

Ocean  Terrace,  142 
Official  Gazettes,  see  Gazettes. 
Old  Buddha,  vide  Tzu  Hsi. 
Opium-smoking,  265,  314-15 

Parkes,  Sir  Harry,  15,  19,  184 

"  Patriotic  Harmony,"  167 

Peace  :     negotiations,     230,     247-50, 

299  ;  protocol  signed,  238 
"Pearl"     (concubine),    ill,    143-4; 

fate  of,  210;   posthumous  honours, 

253 

Peking  (i860),  15-20;  (1900) bombard- 
ment, 198,  209,  220;  effect  of  Peace 
protocol  on,  238;  Legations  bom- 
barded by  Boxers,  176-7,  196,  200, 
203;  reinforcements  for  Legations, 
68,  1 7 1-2,  174-5,  194 

P'in,  8 

Po  Chun,  26-7 

Police  (Peking),  6 

Posts  and  Communications,  266 

Press :  foreign,  268 ;  vernacular,  258, 
297-8,  310  ;  quoted,  268-9 

Princess  Imperial,  45,  119,  253,  311 

Progressives,  130  et  seq. 

P'u  Lun,  Prince,  4,  285 

P'u  Yi,  vide  Hsuan  T'ung. 

Red  Girdles,  vide  Imperial  Clansmen. 
Reform   Decrees  of   Emperor  Kuang 

Hsu,     125-6,    128-135,    138,    140; 

public  opinion  on,   147-8 
Reform  leaders,  execution  of,  154 
Regency,  joint,  of  Empresses  Dowager 

37-105 
Regency  ot  Tzii   Hsi :    First,  40-50 ; 

Second,  77-108;  Third,  136  ^/j^^. 
Rewards  for  capture  of  Europeans,  22, 

189,  193;  proclamation,  198 
Russia,  20,  123,  244 

Sakota,  8,  10;  burial,  48 
Seal,  Imperial,  29-30;  199 
Seng,  Prince,  13,  18-19,  25 
Seng  Ko  Lin  Ch'in,  Prince,  22-3 
Shansi,  228,  231 
Shen  Chin,  309 
Sheng,  General,  18,  19 
Sheng  Pao,  304-5 
Sheng  YU,  107 
Shun-Chih,  Emperor,  33,  53 
Smallpox,  77  note 
Su,  Prince,  213 


INDEX 


321 


Succession,  Imperial,  78-84,  88-90, 
285-6  ;  288-9  ;  protest  re  94-9 

Sugiyama,  Mr.,  176 

Suicide,  patriotic,  89-99 

Summer  Palace  (I-Ho  Yuan),  destruc- 
tion of,  18,  230;  rebuilding  of,  65, 
66,  109,  1 12-13,  311 

Sun  (eunuch),  71 

Sun  Chia-nai,  168,  232 

Sung  Dynasty,  96 

Sung  Po-lu,  128,  130,  142 

Sun  Yu-wen,  106 

Su  Shun  (usurping  Regent),  26-8; 
Tsai  Yuan  conspiracy,  29  et  seq. ; 
condemnation  of,  38 

Ta-a-Ko,  vide  Heir-Apparent 

Ta  Ching  Emperors,  i 

Taiping  Rebellion,  lo-ii,  13,  313 

Tai-Tsung,  Empress,  33 

Taku  Forts,  13,  194 

T'an  Chung-lin,  165 

T'ang  Shao-yi,  52 

T'an  Ssu-t'ung,  137,  165 

Tao-Kuang,  Emperor,  2,  4;  nuptial 
edict,  8;  death,  10 

T'ao  Mo  (viceroy),  73 

Tientsin,  194,  201-2 

Tien-T'sung,  Emperor,  i 

TimeSy  The^  quoted  295-6 

Times  Correspondent,  interview  with 
Li  Hung-chang,  244 

Ting,  Admiral,  66 

Ting  Pao-chen,  59 

Train-bands,  patriotic,  170 

Treaty  of  Commerce,  22,  25 

Tribute,  Provincial,  58,  70-72 

Tsai  Ch'u,  Prince,  146-7 

Tsai  Feng,  vide  Chun,  Prince. 

Tsai  Lan,  Duke,  166-7,  186 ;  and 
Boxers,  68,  176-7,  183-4,  209 

Tsai  Tien,  vide  Kuang-HsU. 

Tsai  Tse,  Duke,  267 

Tsai  Yuan,  3,  31  ;  conspiracy,  26 
et  seq.  ;  arrest  of,  36 

Ts'en  Ch'un-hsuan,  69-70,  223-4 

Tseng,  Marquis,  65 

Tseng  Ho,  159 

Tseng  Kuo-fan,  3,  24,  32,  310 

Tsung-li  Yamen,  169,  183 

Tso  Tsung-t'ang,  94 

Ts'ui  (eunuch),  70 

Tuan,  Prince  (Boxer),  45,  169 ;  Boxer 
movement,  171-2,  178,  207-8;  and 
Li  Lien  Ying,  67  ;  forged  document, 
202 ;  Imperial  seal,  199 ;  in  dis- 
grace, 195,  202-3 ;  relations  with 
Tzii  Hsi,  213,  220;  son  of,  Heir 
Apparent,  168 


Tuan  Fang,  291 

Tuan  Hua,  Prince,  26,  39 

Tun,  Prince,  2,  87 

Tung  Chih,  Emperor,  40,  43,  72; 
death,  77  ;  funeral,  89,  100  ;  maiority 
of,  74 ;  succession  to,  83,  284-5  J 
unborn  heir,  83 ;  wife  of,  vide 
A-Lu-Te. 

Tung  Fu-hsiang,  General,  195-6 ;  de- 
nounces Jung  Lu,  175,  197 

Tung  YUan-ch'un,  33 

Tzu  An  (Empress  Dowager,  of  the 
East),  43-50,  81-82;  and  Prince 
Kung,  59 ;  and  Kuang-HsU,  lOO ; 
illness  and  death,  104 ;  quarrels  with 
Tzu  Hsi,  61,  100-103 

Tzu  Hsi,  Empress  Dowager  {see  also 
Yehonala) ;  appoints  Kuang  Hsii's 
successor,  167-8 ;  character,  299- 
303;  charm  of  manner,  315;  com- 
pared with  Queen  Elizabeth,  108, 
III,  301-2,  316;  compared  with 
Mary  Stuart,  316 ;  compared  with 
Queen  Victoria,  308,  311;  compared 
with  Catherine  of  Russia,  310  ;  con- 
templates suicide,  208  ;  courage,  195, 
302-3,  307  ;  death  and  burial,  292- 
5 ;  despotic  nature,  78-84 ;  diet 
and  habits,  229-30,  311;  Empress 
Dowager  and  Co- Regent,  37  et  seq.  ; 
extravagance,  312-13  ;  feminine 
vanity,  314;  fits  of  rage,  61,  173; 
flies  from  Peking,  209-13  ;  217-33  ; 
health,  314  ;  her  eunuchs,  51-73  ;  her 
Privy  Purse,  1 14,  313  ;  her  sister,  79  ; 
impartiality,  157,  249,  304  ;  in  retire- 
ment, 109-18;  kindness  of  heart,  162; 
last  words,  292 ;  love  of  literature, 
312;  love  of  theatre,  311;  names 
and  titles,  12,  44,  290,  293-4;  OJ^ 
Manchurule,  181-2;  opium  smoking, 
265,  314-15 ;  parentage,  childhood 
and  education,  1-12  ;  penitent,  235- 
7,  245-6,  272  ;  personal  appearance, 
233>  314 ;  policy  towards  European 
Powers,  250,  254-5  ;  policy  towards 
Manchus,  304 ;  prestige,  294-308 ; 
quarrels  with  Co- Regent,  100-3 » 
receives  wives  of  Foreign  Ministers, 
148,  163,  202,  251,  254-5,  269; 
reform  policy,  119-27,  164  {see  also 
under  Decrees) ;  Regency,  First 
(1861-73),  40-50;  Second  (1875- 
89),  77-108;  Third  (1898-1908),  136 
et  seq.  ;  relations  with  Boxers,  177, 
181,  186-7,  195.  259,  261-3 ;  rela- 
tions with  Jung  Lu,  vide  Jung  Lu ; 
relations  with  Kuang  Hsii,  1 17-18, 
167  ;  relations  with  Legations,  203 ; 


322 


INDEX 


relations  with  Prince  Kung,  32  et 
seq.f  45-50;  relations  with  Prince 
Tuan,  vide  Tuan,  Prince  ;  seventy- 
third  birthday,  28 1 ;  sickness  of, 
275,  282-4;  sixtieth  birthday,  112- 
14 ;  statecraft,  161-3 ;  superstitious 
nature,  74,  192,  242,  248,  305-6; 
thrifty  instincts,  314-15  ;  tomb,  306- 
7 ;  Tsai  YUan  conspiracy,  26-39 » 
unpopularity,  310;  vindictiveness, 
224-5  J  violates  succession  laws,  84, 
272 

Vernacular  Press,  vide  Press. 
Victoria,  Queen,  275,  308 

Wang  Wen  Shao,  209,  217,  252; 
account  of  flight  from  Peking,  219-22 

Wan  Li,  Emperor,  i 

Wei  Chung,  53 

Wen  Ching,  2,  298 

Weng  T'ung-ho,  106,  119,  I20-I,  123, 
125-6;  and  Jung  Lu,  102;  Russian 
policy  of,  121  ;  dismissal,  159 ; 
retirement  and  death,  160. 

Wen  Hsi,  76 

Wen  T'i,  130,  250 

Wu,  Empress,  41 

Wu  K'o-tu,  272 ;  memorial  on  ques- 
tion of  succession,  95-9 ;  suicide,  89 

Wu  Yung,  218 

Yangjui,  151,  154 


Yangkunu,  Prince,  i 

Yang  Shen-hsiu,  128,  130,  137 

Yeh  (viceroy),  12,  21 

Yehonala  (Imperial  concubine),  vide 
Tzu  Hsi. 

Yehonala  Clan,  3,  86,  107,  291 

Yellow  Girdles,  vide  Imperial  Clans- 
men. 

Yellow  River,  16 1-2 

Yen-Ch'ing-chou,  218 

"  Yi "  (concubine).     See  Yehonala. 

Yi,  Prince  (Tsai  Yuan),  22,  23 

Ying  Tsung,  Emperor,  81 

Young  China,  119,  259,  268-9,  297, 
310 

Yiian  Ch'ang,  183,  186  ;  decapitation 
of,  205,  206;  denounces  Boxers,  194, 
204 

Yuan  Shih-k'ai,  174,  285-6 ;  and 
eunuch  system,  52  ;  birthday  cere- 
monies, 278-9 ;  reform  policy,  136- 
9,  265 ;  relations  with  Tzu  Hsi, 
140-1,  249  ;  retirement,  144 

Yii  Hsien,  167,  169 ;  massacre  of  mis- 
sionaries, 199,  203,  224 ;  suicide, 
225 

YU  Huang,  Jade  Emperor,  172,  184 

Yii  Lu  (viceroy),  131  ;  Boxer  move- 
ment, 156,  178,  194,  200,  204;  plot 
against,  137  ;  suicide,  208 

Zoological  Gardens  at  Peking,  280-1 


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